Peace of Mind
by Riverlander1790
Summary: (First Class AU) Charles and Erik meet two women, entwined in the past and the present, who will help them, the school and the mutant community grow and prosper, as wrongs are righted and new friendships and more are formed. Can the mutants eventually reach a real understanding with the non-mutant community? Charles/OC Erik/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

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><p><em><span>Prologue <span>_

_It had been almost a year since that incident on the beach in Cuba, and finally Charles felt that all – or at least most – of the bad feelings between everyone was behind them. Erik had not left them, he had not left his best friend. Yes, they still argued about their own views on how exactly they were to achieve the peace between humans and mutants both wanted. Charles still believed a diplomatic approach was the way, while Erik was more inclined towards the faster and more forceful approach. He still believed that the humans would act violently, viciously and ruthlessly to the mutants, as they always had. _

_But everyone was still working together for now._

_Charles didn't know if it was guilt that kept Erik with him, his guilt over Charles's paraplegia from the accident on the beach. Nonetheless, Erik was still with him, and compromises between their opposing points of view were leading Charles to believe that Erik was slowly being pulled towards a more peaceful approach to human-mutant relations. _

_Not least because of the growing success of the school._

_Xavier's Institute for Gifted Children had a small student population, but a dedicated and hard-working – as well as downright overprotective at times – staff, who taught the children of all ages 'normal' school lessons, as well as additional lessons in their individual mutations, and physical training. Erik called it 'preparation to give back what's given'. Charles preferred thinking of it as self-defence. Whatever it was called, it was one of their compromises in the running of the school. _

_They were still recruiting students, offering a safe haven for all at the school, although now the pair rarely personally recruited each student. Instead many letters were sent out to addresses of mutants that Charles located in Hank's rebuilt and improved Cerebro. Many letters were rejected or went unanswered, but it was those few that responded positively that made it all worthwhile._

_But it was only this morning that Charles picked up someone strange and powerful on Cerebro, who had then blocked him out somehow. He'd told Erik of his find, and the other had proceeded to call an impromptu trip for the affectionately named 'X-men' to find this mutant. Erik was acting in a purely defensive way in his own opinion. It wouldn't have been the first time someone had posed a threat against the X-men, mutant or otherwise, since their exposure from the Cuban missile crisis. From his experience, it was better preparing for the worst every time._

_For a moment at the jet, as he was being helped into his seat by Alex and Raven despite his reluctance, Charles wished that Azazel was with them. It would have given him an easier and slightly more dignified way mode of transportation. At least Azazel was keeping out of too much trouble, the only blip being when he had helped Emma Frost escape the CIA. For now, the former Hellfire club members, without their powerful leader, seemed a little lost and more apathetic towards building a bridge between humans and mutants. Charles was now accepting to his current state – what else could he do? – but there were times when it was difficult. When he was at last strapped in and everyone was set, Hank set in the co-ordinates and set off towards this mysterious, powerful mutant._

_None of them expected what they found.  
><em>

Chapter 1

My eyes were firmly fixed on the figure crossing the airstrip, dressed up to the nines in a black pinstripe suit and grey scarf to protect him from the chill of the evening air. The slight breeze was only gently ruffling his otherwise immaculately slicked back light brown hair, but that was the only thing about him that wasn't perfectly placed. I would get him though, even if I had to plough through that crowd of guards surrounding him single-handedly. Pawns, really. They meant little to him. The only one that meant anything to him in that crowd was right beside him and almost as dangerous as him, but I could take her. I _had_ to.

Another plane, of a design I'd never seen before, arrived on the airstrip, catching the attention of the others. This was the perfect distraction. This was the moment.

Sprinting out of the bushes, the nearest two guards didn't even notice me before I'd knocked them out with their own guns, a quick and efficient knock to their heads. The next few guards had noticed my arrival, but were no harder to deal with from some simple punches and kicks as I didn't stop running. This had halved the number of guards to fight already, _not bad_, but was losing _him_. He was boarding the plane with his right hand woman, leaving the remaining guards to stop me. _He_ even sent a condescending salute to me just as the door to the plane closed.

_Bastard!_

Throwing out my hands, I knocked back the nearest guards surrounding me, before something caught my eye. _That could work_. With a quick flick of my wrist, the chicken wire fence on the edges of the airstrip came hurtling across the concrete, wrapping around the guards and binding them tight. They were left struggling on the ground as I sprinted after the small private plane, already beginning to take-off. _Damnit, it's too far. I'll never catch it._

I skidded to a stop, reaching out with every ounce of strength I had to stop that plane. I screamed at the strain, but gritted my teeth and held tight. But the stronger force of the plane was dragging me forward, my heels digging into the concrete ground but helping none.

"Let go!" I heard someone call out.

Ignoring them, I turned one of my hands away from the plane towards the ground behind me and pulled in that direction too. Anchoring myself to the ground, I started to try and pull the plane towards me, ignoring the heat of the engines and the agony in every fibre of my body from the strain. I _had_ to bring down this plane, I _had_ to!

"Let it go, Rosa," that voice called out again, closer now. "You'll kill yourself."

Arms wrapped around my torso, trying to pull me back, but I shrugged them off, focusing on bringing that _damn plane down_.

But the arms once again wrapped around me, and I was concentrating too hard on the plane to even try to shrug them off me a second time. "Let it go, Rosa. I know you need to do this, but you will kill yourself this way. _Please_, let go."

"No!" I growled at the woman holding me. "No, I won't!"

'_Let go, Rosa. Just let go,'_ resonated that same voice, but from inside my head. _'Trust me_.'

Rapidly becoming exhausted, I released the plane with another scream, the force knocking me over, along with whoever was holding me. My chest heaved for breath, the strain before having made breathing difficult, and I pushed the arms off of me as I sat up. My eyes lingered on the disappearing plane, carrying _him_ away, and the heavy and bitter feeling of disappointment echoed through me. _So close..._ I turned to look at the woman who had stopped me before. She was around my age, with blonde hair that fell in curls around her face, and big brown eyes that felt like they were staring straight through me. "Who the- Who the _hell_ are you?" I cried, standing up again. "I was- I- do you know what you just did? Who that was? You were- you were in my _head_! How did you do that?"

The woman pushed herself to her feet and stuck her hand out to me. "Emily Brooke, lovely to meet you. And it was one of my mutations that allowed me to communicate with you telepathically."

I ignored her hand, I didn't trust this _Emily_, no matter how harmless she seemed. "Mutation?"

"Yes, like yours, but different."

"Telepathy, so you can read minds. Are you reading mine right now?"

"Oh no, I did before, but I had to. I had to stop you before you hurt yourself. But not now. Actually, I'm shielding it. There's another telepath making his way here now with his friends- don't worry!" Emily said, noticing my suddenly tense posture. "He's a perfectly alright person, a good man from what I gleaned off his mind, and a powerful mind-reader, but nothing I can't handle. Your mind is still protected, but I don't believe he or his friends have any bad intentions. Although I didn't look long. I always feel so nosy poking about in other people's minds like that."

Emily talked a lot I noticed very quickly, and she didn't seem to notice it. Looking behind her, I saw that there was indeed a group of people making their way to us. But it didn't matter who or what they were, I had business to handle. I turned to the nearest conscious guard, ready to interrogate him, when I was stopped by a hand on my arm. It was Emily. I didn't have to look up to know it was her.

"Don't."

I ripped my arm from her grasp easily. "Don't touch me. I don't even know you. Or them, whoever they are."

"Right, of course," Emily said, before running towards the group and pushing them all closer. "These are Sean, Alex, Raven, Hank, Erik and Charles. Now you know us. Happy?" I couldn't help rolling my eyes at her, this woman seemed too optimistic for her own good. "What's the matter now? Charles was just about to ask us about our mutations, since he can't read our minds right now."

"I thought you said you felt nosy reading other people's minds," I couldn't help but quip.

"But his mind is so _fascinating_," Emily whined.

"So you're a telepath too," the man called Charles said, eyes looking up at Emily from his lowered height being apparently wheelchair bound. "Are you the one who is blocking both your minds from me?"

Emily nodded her head, a proud smile on her face making her look much younger. "Rosa's not very trusting of people, so I thought it only fair. I've even blocked her mind from me."

"Don't act like you know me," I snapped, frowning at her. "What do you know about me?"

A suddenly serious expression crossed Emily's face as she answered. "Everything."

_That wasn't the answer I was expecting._

Emily held her hand out to me, a smile having returned to her face. "Come on Rosa, quit being so difficult. I know you hate it."

"Hate what? That _thing_, that _monster_ that you just let escape on that plane?"

"Loneliness." I was again surprised by her response. "Come on, you don't have to be alone any longer. You're with friends now. I don't have to read your mind to know you could use some." For the life of me I would never understand what compelled me to believe her, this stranger who apparently knew everything about me and was still offering friendship. Whatever it was, fate, instinct, exhaustion or pure curiosity, I eventually nodded and let Emily take my hand and proceed to drag me across the airstrip to the plane. "You won't regret this Rosa! Charles' home is amazing, and we're just in time for a new school year, and they're in need of an English and Biology teacher. Don't worry, we'll collect our things later."

Things were suddenly moving very fast. _When did I get volunteered to teach?_ While I was thinking all these things, I had robotically strapped myself into one of the seats inside the small plane – Emily sitting across from me, to better talk at me in my opinion – when I noticed there seemed to be a hold-up of people getting into the plane. Leaning forward to better look at what was happening, I saw that it was manoeuvring Charles out of his wheelchair that was causing the delay to wherever we were going. _Again, _why_ was I trusting Emily?_ Nonetheless, I didn't have to be a mind-reader to read the slight embarrassment on Charles's face, even though no one else seemed to mind the trouble, and decided to help out.

With a small flick of my hand, I had lifted the wheelchair with Charles still in it, and set it down beside Emily. The shocked looks on everyone's faces made a smirk pull at my face. "How did you do that?" the boy Emily had said was named Sean asked. "Hank made sure that thing wasn't made of a bit of metal."

"I don't need metal to move objects."

"Your mutation isn't restricted to metal?" Charles asked, glancing slightly at Erik as he sat beside me. "What is your mutation exactly? Wait, never mind. We can discuss this better at home. Am I to trust that I'm secure simply in my wheelchair, Rosa?"

"The plane could flip over and you'd be the only one firmly in place."

"But I'm not strapped into my wheelchair."

"No, but you're wearing clothes strong enough for me to hold you I place," I slumped back in the chair and let my head drop back. _Nothing to do but wait now, _I thought to myself, all the while wondering what this place I was being taken to looked like. If it was a school, I assumed it wouldn't be too small, but that was all I could think of. Whatever it looked like, I kept myself alert and ready for anything, as always, acutely aware of the many sets of eyes I could feel on me during the flight. I ignored them, letting the chatter between Charles and Emily across from me send me off into a slight doze, as I stopped ignoring how tired my body felt.

_Perhaps trying to bring down a plane wasn't the smartest idea I'd ever had._


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

Well, the school was large. It was a mansion really, a beautiful building with large grounds. I would have enjoyed coming to school here just for the scenery. A warm feeling of... content just filled me looking at that open space.

"Wow," a voice I had already become familiar to – due to her almost nonstop talking – said. Emily was looking with equal wonder to the new surroundings. "I'd read what it looked like, but still, wow."

"Glad you like it, make yourselves at home," Charles said, rolling past us and leading the whole group into the house. The inside was as beautiful as the outside, the soft moonlight shining in patches on the polished floorboards. We were led into a living room, with several couches centred around a fireplace, a small TV in the corner. "If you wouldn't mind, would you explain your mutations to us? As Emily is blocking both of your minds from me, I am as much at a loss as the others."

"For once," Raven quipped with a smirk, before settling on one of the couches and pulling Hank down to sit beside her. The rest of us sat down, Emily sitting at one end in an armchair beside Charles's wheelchair while the rest of us fitted into the couches.

"Well, I'm not _strictly_ a telepath," Emily began, biting her lip in thought. "I suppose you could call me a motivator." At everyone's confused looks, she elaborated. "I sort of encourage living things at a cellular level. Like me encouraging Rosa's brain cells to scramble her thoughts to telepaths. I only came to grips with my mutation a few years ago, so I'm still learning the limits of my power, but so far I've been able to manipulate every living cell I've encountered, and it usually works best when I have contact with the living thing in some way. I can't make cells do something entirely 'unnatural' though, or make someone develop a mutation they don't already possess, like make a baby fluoresce, but I could heal a broken leg bone or something."

"That is so _cool_," Sean said, staring wide-eyed at Emily. "So when Havok hits me in practise, you could just fix me up?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders modestly, "I suppose so."

"And what about her, what does she do?"

Now everyone's eyes were on me. "Telekinesis." It appeared that they expected more, but I wasn't as chatty as Emily. Still, I wasn't without social understanding, and indulged them. "...What can you all do?" I was bombarded with the younger members of the group all explaining everything at the same time, about their powers and much more. They were interrupted by Hank.

"What are you doing?" he asked Emily, who currently had a finger pressed against Charles's temple.

"I'm just trying something out," she answered, continuing quietly for another moment or two, before leaping to her feet. Taking his hands in hers, Emily then proceeded to start to tug Charles out of his wheelchair. Immediately, Erik and Raven leapt to their feet and pried her away from him, outraged at her actions. Not a second later – for unknown reasons still – I tugged Emily safely out of their arms and to my side.

"What do you think you're doing?" Raven screeched at Emily, her blonde facade falling away and her yellow eyes flashing in anger.

"I wasn't going to hurt him!" Emily protested, straightening her clothes as she spoke. _'Kick him, Rosa.'_ Now I was having doubts to her sanity. _'Trust me, just kick him, lightly_,_ in the shin._' Swearing my revenge on her if I got into trouble for even 'lightly' kicking this seemingly innocent man, I trusted her as she appeared to trust me, and stepped around Erik to kick Charles in the shin.

"Ow!" Charles cried, cradling his shin. _Perhaps I had kicked too hard._ No sooner had the though passed through my mind that I found myself hurtling through the air to the other side of the room and slammed painfully into the wall, pinned in place by my belt and watch. Looking down, I saw Erik striding towards me, all six foot of him cutting a sharp figure in his black turtleneck and slacks, a furious expression on his face. Hank's mind it seemed, worked faster than the rest of ours thankfully.

"Wait!" Hank cried, stopping any impending trouble breaking out. "Professor, you felt that?"

"Of course I did, Hank. Why else would it hurt-" Charles's eyes then lit up also, as he stared down at his shin in wonderment. "I- I felt it. I felt the pain." Tears gathered in his eyes as a grin broke out across his face. "I can feel my legs!" Bright blue eyes darted up to Emily, "You-"

"I wasn't sure it would work in all honesty, but I told the broken nerve endings to right themselves. It worked pretty well, don't you think?" Reaching out a hand for help, with Hank on one side and Raven on the other, Charles pulled himself to his feet. There was never a happier expression on a person before, and he was laughing as he looked down at his feet, which he shuffled this way and that. Pushing gently at them, Hank and Raven relinquished their hold on him, and Charles stood up by himself. It was with a little overconfidence that Charles took a step forward, and began to fall to the floor.

All at once, everyone seemed to reach out to catch him. Erik included. I knew that firstly because I saw him rush to Charles, and secondly because I fell from where I was pinned to the wall, into an ungraceful heap on the polished floorboard. Not the most forgiving surface to fall onto. I pushed myself up to my knees, and watched everyone surrounding the suddenly un-paralysed Charles, Emily laughing as she told him to slow down, as his muscles hadn't returned to full health as quickly as his nerves had done. It was a happy sight.

But _damn_ was Erik protective. My back was going to bruise, I could tell. _Emily owed me_. If I hadn't caught her apologetic look, I would have sworn she'd told _me_ to kick Charles on purpose. But she looked genuinely surprised and sorry. I'd seen enough people faking those emotions to know the real thing. Nodding quickly to her to let her know I'd forgiven her – _god, why did I trust her again?_ – I brushed myself off, wincing at a slight twinge in my shoulder. A small hand tugged me up, and I winced again as my shoulder was pulled uncomfortably. "I'm really sorry about that Rosa. I didn't expect any of them to react like that, I didn't mean to get you hurt."

"Yeah, well next time you want someone kicked, do it yourself," I said with a growl, before cringing as I noticed a growing pain in the back of my head. Touching the sore spot, my fingers came away with spots of crimson at the ends. Emily seemed to panic more than me, but I suppose I was more used to getting hurt and all that. She didn't seem the type to get into trouble so much.

"Oh my god! Are you alright? Here, let me see." My vision was suddenly filled with Emily as she turned my head this way and that to inspect my apparent head injury. A light touch of her finger later and the pain in my head was gone, but her worry had yet to disappear. "Do you think you hit your skull? Have you got a concussion? How many fingers am I holding up? _Do you remember your name_?-"

"Emily!" I cried, anything to stop her babbling. "A healer you may be, but a doctor you most definitely aren't. I'm fine. I've had worse."

A frown crossed her face, before she was suddenly dragging me from the room, grabbing Hank along the way. "Hank will give you a check up. He's close enough to a doctor. Oh! We should have Charles check too, just to make sure everything's alright."

"I'm _fine_, why are you worrying so much?"

Emily blinked at me, perplexed, "Because you're my friend and you're hurt." Waving her arms dismissively at me, she then proceeded to push me out of the room herself. "We'll just get you checked over. Are you coming Hank? I know you want some blood samples."

I raised an eyebrow at the blue, furry mutant as I looked over my shoulder at him. He looked sheepishly back. "Blood samples?" _It must be the scientist in him_.

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><p>"OW!"<p>

"I- I haven't started yet."

"Oh... right..." It seemed that Emily had a _slight_ fear of needles, and no matter how fascinated she apparently was about the results of our blood-works, she was still scared. She had _graciously_ allowed for me to be checked over and my blood taken, and then for Charles to have his legs checked on reflexes and such, but then there was no one else between her and the needle. I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying watching her squirm slightly. Emily's hand shot out and grabbed Raven by the arm, dragging her beside her and burying her face against one slim blue shoulder. "Alright. Do it. Raven, tell me when it's over."

Poor Hank looked too scared to touch her now. I turned to Charles, lying on a bed, enjoying wiggling his toes while the others surrounded him. I didn't know if it was the fact that there were so few people to fill this giant home, their concern over Charles, or distrust of me and Emily that was keeping everyone together, but we had all simply migrated from one room to this room, Hank's makeshift lab. It was a very interesting place, but I'd had little education in science, at least not enough to understand the experiments being carried out in all that fragile-looking equipment. It was quite beautiful though, in an alien type way, all those different coloured liquids bubbling in flasks and around thin tubes. If science lessons like these were offered when I was young, I have no doubt that I could easily have become as interested in the field as Hank. _Speaking of lessons..._

"So, Charles," I began, mainly just trying to get his attention from his toes. "Emily mentioned before that you were in need of an English teacher."

A smile crossed his face, "Yes, well, while we have Science and Maths lessons covered between Hank and I, and Erik teaching Foreign Languages, we've struggled a little teaching English literature and the like here. I was more an avid reader of non-fictitious scientific journals really."

_What are you doing Rosa?_ Inside my head there was a conflict of two sides. One side was telling me to leave, get out of this place, as fast as possible, before trouble found me again. It wouldn't be the first time that I had thought myself safe. I should be downright _suspicious_ about how quickly I'd trusted Emily, and these other people to an extent. I wasn't normally this social, or trusting. Why now? But the other half of me was begging me to stay here, with others like me, where I would be safe amongst possible friends, and to forget everything about the past. The dark and bitter past. This was an opportunity to make a _home _here. And I was so _tired_ of always being on the run, and these people were clever with resources, they could help my self-imposed mission. My mind was made up. "I haven't taught in a few years, but I could teach the curriculum sufficiently."

"You were a teacher?"

"Yes, for a number of years. I'm a great fan of fiction of all genres."

"She _loves_ books," Emily added, peeking up from Raven's shoulder and looking steadfastly away from where Hank was drawing her blood into a small test-tube. "Rosa was a great teacher. And I've always wanted to teach Biology! I have a doctorate in Cellular Biology, but I did loads of tutoring. Will that be enough?" The two of them seemed to share a mental conversation not privy to anyone else – _I can see that getting annoying_ – filled with many sideways glances to _me_. Whatever they spoke of, eventually Charles nodded, putting on another smile.

"Welcome to Xavier's Institute for Gifted Children. Can I have the names of our two new teachers?"

"Emily Brooke, well, Dr Brooke really," Emily said, pressing the piece of tissue in the crook of her elbow as Hank instructed her. She looked a little green, but fine otherwise.

Charles turned to me, an expectant look on his face. _I suppose I haven't properly introduced myself, have I? _I gave a small but genuine smile to him as I spoke, "Rosa Shaw."

"_Shaw_?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

"You have _got_ to stop doing this," I groaned from where I was pinned to the wall by my belt again. My back was going to kill tomorrow.

"Erik-" Emily was pulled back by Raven, her eyes darting worriedly between me and the man stalking towards me with a deadly expression on his face.

I found myself staring straight into a pair of furious green-grey eyes, but the groaning sound of bending metal caught my attention to my right. From the corner of my eye, I saw a strip of metal from the very wall of the lab – _poor Hank's lab_ – unpeeling and wrapping around my neck. The sharp sides of the torn metal pressed dangerously against the delicate skin of my neck, and I was more at risk of cutting myself with the metal than being choked by it. Still, I kept a mask of cool disinterest on my face. "Your name is _Shaw_?" Erik practically spat the question at me, his teeth bared in anger.

Despite the situation, I couldn't help chuckling. "From your reaction, I gather you've met my family."

"Yes."

"Brother or father?"

Confusion tugged at Erik's face, "Brother?"

"Father, then. Lovely man, isn't he?"

The edge of the metal pressed harder against my neck, and despite my telekinesis, I was no match against a metalbender's skill with the material, and soon I felt the warm dribble of blood falling to my collar bone. Charles and Emily were telling Erik to stop, but it was obvious to me he wouldn't. "Don't _mock_ me-"

"And don't look at me like I'm _him_!" I snapped back. _Enough of this_, kicking out him, I was pleased when my foot connected with soft flesh and the expression on Erik's face was simply a bonus to the strip of metal around my neck falling loose. Breaking my belt loops and undoing my watch, I dropped to the floor, more gracefully than last time at least. Clamping a hand over the small cut on my neck, I glared down at the winded man. "He took _everything _from me. If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him myself. Until then, I have my brother to deal with. If I ever meet my father's killer, I'll thank them wholeheartedly for their act. I hope his end was slow and painful. Don't think there was any love lost from me when he died."

Looking up at all everyone else in the room, most of them looked surprised or wary. The only one not surprised was Emily. I was beginning to think nothing I did would surprise her.

Grabbing the First Aid kit from Hank's side, still open from when he'd taken Emily's blood, I stormed out of the room. I wasn't leaving. Not now. I just needed to get away from that _infuriating_ man. It took three tries for me to find a damn bathroom in this giant place, and I locked the door behind me, flicking on the light. Dumping the First Aid kit on the sink counter – _even the bathrooms in this place were huge_ – I looked up at myself in the mirror.

I was still glaring, and forced myself to relax my face. People who had known her had often told me how much I resembled my mother. Thankfully. I'd only wind up hating myself if I resembled the monster of a father I had. Instead of his light brown hair, I'd inherited mother's chestnut hair, which I'd grown to my shoulders. I'd gotten her pale skin too, and her small figure, at least from what I gathered from old photographs I'd seen. Mother had died when I was only a baby. But it was my eyes that I loved the most, another gift from mother. Hazel eyes, but with a burst of unexplainable violet from the pupils.

The trail of crimson regained my attention, and I dampened some toilet paper to mop up the blood. The small cut was already beginning to scab, and was insignificant compared to some of the other marks on my body. Still, it was safer to cover it up to prevent infection. Ripping open a small plaster, I covered the cut and threw away the bloodied toilet paper, closing the First Aid kit. My anger was almost gone now, returned to simmering below the surface, as it seemed to always do nowadays. _Perhaps I'd overreacted_.

Opening the bathroom door, I found Raven stood waiting outside for me. "Can I help you?"

"Charles decided that today had been a long day for all of us, and we'll all talk some more tomorrow. So, I'm here to show you to your room." A cheeky smile crossed her face, "And I thought you'd like a break from Emily, especially if you wanted to sleep anytime soon."

Sharing a small smile with her, I let Raven take the First Aid kit from me and followed her through the large dark corridors. It _was_ a nice break from Emily, the woman who seemed to know so much about me and would talk at every opportunity. I was still wondering why I trusted her so much. Soon enough Raven opened a door and showed me a wonderfully furnished bedroom.

"This is my room, but we only had one spare bedroom free and Emily took it."

"And where are you sleeping tonight?"

The cheeky smile flashed again, "I managed to convince Hank to let me share his... although he'll probably insist on taking the couch."

I could picture the shy scientist acting the gentleman and trying to do the honourable thing. It brought another smile to my face. "I don't have any clothes to change into."

"You can borrow some of mine for now, I don't use them very often now," Raven said, ruffling through some drawers and handing me a set of sweats. "Well, goodnight. Tomorrow, just follow the smell of food and you'll find the kitchen."

"Goodnight," I said with a nod, walking her to the door. "And good luck with Hank."

She left laughing down the corridor as I closed the bedroom door. It took only seconds to change into the sweats lent to me, and I fell into the bed, turning off the light with a flick of my wrist. It _had_ been a long day. Deep in duvets and soft pillows, I closed my eyes and dropped my guard, too exhausted really to care that I was sleeping in an unknown house with strangers probably in the surrounding rooms. Today had been filled with a lot of anger and disappointment. I felt drained. Right now, I _deserved_ a damn good night's sleep. But it wasn't starting so well.

"Go away," I groaned into my pillow, not even bothering to open my eyes.

There was a faint shuffling from behind me, in the direction of the door. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine, Emily, now go away."

"He's sorry."

"No he's not."

"Fine, he's not, but Erik didn't know-"

"I don't care. I'm tired. Leave."

"_Rosa_," Emily whined, shaking me to my annoyance. "Ow! Hey, no fair with your powers!"

I couldn't help smirking into the pillow. I'd just thrown another one in the general direction of Emily's head, and hit dead on. With a frustrated sigh, I sat up, turning to see Emily sat on the bed next to me, silhouetted against the moonlight from the window. "You're telling _me_ off for using my powers when you go snooping about in people's minds? How can you do that anyway? I thought you said your power was to do with cells."

"I didn't say I didn't have telepathy, only that I wasn't _strictly_ a telepath. I'm not nearly as powerful as Charles, I'm stronger manipulating cells, but my telepathic skills are strong enough."

"So you have two powers."

"You could say that."

"Why not just say that before?"

"I didn't feel like it."

"... You're complicated."

"So I've been told," Emily said with a shrug. "But that's just me." Dropping back amongst all the pillows, I closed my eyes. "Alright, I'm stubborn not oblivious. I get the hint. Goodnight." I sighed in relief as I heard her leave the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. My eyes slid shut and sleep easily took me. At least if someone – _Erik_ – was going to kill me tonight, I'd be in a warm and comfortable bed. And Emily would probably get back at them for me, for whatever reasons she had for being my friend.

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><p>I woke up early, as always, too early for most usually. But someone was already up and cooking. Hoping that she wouldn't mind me borrowing some more of her clothes, I followed Raven's instructions and the smell of cooking bacon led me to the kitchen and Alex stood over the stove. "You cook?"<p>

He jumped, not having noticed me. Alex shrugged, barely sparing me a glance as he focused on not burning the food. "I can manage simple stuff, not the long recipe things though. Surprised?"

"Pleasantly. You didn't seem the type, but it smells good," I commented, peering over his left shoulder into the pan. As well as bacon and eggs, some pancakes were ready for flipping on his other side. Deciding to help him out, I moved to his right and took over pancake duties, stacking them with some others already done on a plate. "Is everyone else up?"

"Beast's up and in his lab, he already came for coffee," Alex said, his tongue sticking out momentarily as he carefully flipped the eggs. "And the Professor's up. He told me I could make breakfast special today to 'welcome our new guests' before going to his study. Dunno about the others."

"So I'm still welcome."

Alex merely grunted in reply. _Charming._ He was living up to his teenage looks.

"How old are you?" I got a confused look, but only briefly. The bacon apparently commanded most of Alex's attention. "It's just that you don't seem old enough to be a teacher. But you don't act like a student. Raven and Sean too."

"I'm nineteen, not sure about the others," he replied. "We're sort of prefects of whatever the Professor likes to call it. I go to some of the classes, since I missed a lot in solitary, but I help out wherever I can basically. The Professor just said to think of this as home, so..."

Ladling out some fresh pancake batter with my telekinesis brought a small chuckle from Alex, and we continued cooking in comfortable silence. He warned me to eat now, because once Sean and Hank joined up from breakfast, there may be nothing left. I was guessing Alex was also responsible for the devouring of food. _Growing boys and their appetite_.

"Something smells good."

I looked behind us to see several bleary-eyed and yawning people fall into the room, amongst them Emily looking like a zombie with her blonde curls everywhere and brown eyes only half-open – _I guess she's not a morning person then_ – followed by the other adults. Charles was still in his wheelchair, but his feet were tapping to a tune he was lightly humming. It would take some time and physical therapy to restore strength to his legs, but he seemed happy enough now with the ability to move them at all. Hank was behind him, rambling on to a less-than-interested-looking Erik about one experiment or another he'd been monitoring since very early this morning. All of them found their places around the table, and I used my powers to set plates and cutlery out, as well as place the platter of bacon and eggs on the table, bringing the pancakes by hand myself as Alex and I joined them.

"This all looks delicious," Charles said as he helped himself to the bacon. Alex grunted in reply again, but I saw a proud smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Drinks anyone?" I asked. I got requests for coffee, tea and orange juice – Sean had to be persuaded not to have soda this early in the day – and waved a hand behind me to the various jugs and utensils. It was satisfying to watch everyone's faces as the pots of tea, coffee and juice moved seamlessly through the air and poured their contents into everyone's cups. The novelty of this was somewhat lost on me, but even Emily was beginning to brighten up with the show.

"_So_ cool," Sean said, watching the juice fill his glass. "It's like we have ghosts waiting on us. You should be called Ghost!"

"That's a stupid name," Raven said. "She should be called something cooler. Like... Spectre."

"What's wrong with Ghost?"

"Are you listening to yourself?"

"Alex, back me up here man! Isn't Ghost a better name than Spectre?"

"Leave me alone, I'm eating here."

"Hank, tell them that Spectre is a better name."

"I, erm, well they're both good suggestions, but shouldn't Rosa decide-"

Emily was giggling in her seat, watching the argument with her cup of tea warming her hands. Charles was smiling as he ate, eyes moving between each speaker. I could only imagine what their thoughts were like. Even Erik had a small twitch in the corner of his lips, despite rolling his eyes. I found myself grinning at the four arguing, feeling lighter. I'd known these people not even a day, and already I felt at home. _Home_. _Yeah, I could get used to this_.

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><p><strong>AN: Schnebz, I love and hate you. I hope you appreciate the effort I'm putting into each chapter just for another of your fabulous reviews. Seriously, love and hate you. And thanks.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

**AN: This chapter is dedicated to OrangeLoveVamp! Thanks for the lovely review**

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><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

After the eventful breakfast – according to Hank, this didn't even count as to what _could_ be eventful – Raven showed me which room would be mine. The mansion was huge, with many, _many_ bedrooms to choose from, but as it was the summer holidays and it was only the staff residing here, everyone kept to one wing. We all weren't in adjacent rooms, but we weren't far from each other. But because it was the holidays, many of the rooms had been stripped, hence only one spare room free for use and me borrowing Raven's room last night. I was kindly informed by an excited Emily that her room was only down the hall from mine, in case I ever needed her.

Once I'd retrieved the necessary things from the linen closet, it took only a matter of minutes to ready my room with my powers. It was of a similar size and design to Raven's, but had a darker wood finish to the walls and furniture. Opening the windows to air the room a bit, I was pleased with the small piece of the mansion Charles had said to call my own. I spent the rest of the day exploring the mansion, eventually finding and getting lost amongst the many books of the library. Despite Charles saying he wasn't such a big fan of fiction, he had an extensive collection here. Later, I heard a throat being cleared behind me, and turned from my book to see Emily smiling at me. "Rosa, Hank's offered to fly us back to the airstrip, so we can go get our things. Let's go."

I followed her out of the house and hopped into the car with her, Hank driving us to the hangar bay. The supersonic – I knew the name now and much more after having asked Hank about it – was ready and waiting, and we were quickly in the air. Thanks to the speed of the plane, it didn't take long to return to where I'd last pursued my brother. Hank dropped Emily and I off at the airstrip, and I hailed a taxi to take me to the cheap hotel I'd stayed at. It only took a minute for me to pack all my things, mostly papers, and all stuffed into two duffel bags. I was back at the airstrip in half an hour.

"That was fast," Hank said when he spotted me. He'd stayed in the plane, aware that his appearance would draw a little more attention than was wanted. It was a sad fact.

Dropping the bags into a seat and strapping them down, I then joined Hank nearer the front of the plane. "There wasn't much to pack, and I didn't stay far." I spent the rest of the time asking Hank about his lab, asking him about one coloured liquid I'd seen or another. Most of the words he said I doubted I'd ever understand, but it was lovely seeing the usually much quieter Hank so animated. Emily soon returned, dragging behind her a zip-up suitcase and two additional bags, which she also strapped down. With everything with us, Hank took off, and we were heading home within two hours of leaving the place. _Home, I like the sound of that_. Conversation easily flowed between Hank and Emily on the flight back, and soon we were back in the hangar bay.

The back of the supersonic opened up, and I made to grab my bags and leave, when my bag started leaving before me. Emily's too. She looked at me, "Are you-"

"It's not me."

She concentrated for a moment, and nodded, "It's Erik. He wants to speak to you." I frowned, grabbing at my bags before they exited the plane entirely. _Damn you, you blasted metal zip!_ As Emily had said, Erik was stood waiting for us on the hangar bay floor, his ever stoic expression on as he watched us. The others were not far off, waiting outside with the cars for us. "Talk to him," Emily hissed as she brushed past me, thanking Erik for taking her bags for her, before darting off to the cars. Hank smiled sheepishly at me, before also dashing off out of the bay. _Traitors_.

Resolutely tugging at my bags, I almost fell over backwards when _somebody_ practically jerked the – _my_ – bags away from me. I scowled at him, _fine, have my bags!_ and headed to the others. "Rosa, can I talk to you for a moment?"

I was going to say no, but Emily was glaring at me, her elaborate arm gestures telling me in essence that if I didn't talk to Erik she was going to make me regret it. What she would do was a mystery, but I wasn't about to put anything to the test, she was the determined type. Knowing my luck, she could just talk me to death. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I turned around, looking up at Erik. "What?"

"I wanted to apologise for yesterday," he began, looking me directly in the eye. "I overreacted-"

"You were angry."

"Very."

"But you're not sorry, and that's understandable," I said. Indicating the group behind us, I grinned, "Is your telepath telling you to do this too?"

A smirk slid across Erik's thin lips, "Yes. He's quite the persistent one." I was about to reply, but Erik continued speaking. "What do you _understand_ about me not being sorry?"

My face pulled into a frown as I answered him, "If you know anything about him – and I'm guessing you know quite a bit from your reaction to my _name_ – my father was not the loving type. We'll leave it at that." I shrugged off my memories and stuck out my hand to Erik. "So, not forgiven, but forgotten?"

Erik nodded, shaking my hand. "You know I'm going to find out what you meant one day. I can be very persuasive."

"I'm sure you are, but I don't break easily."

"Hmm, we'll see," he said, before striding past me, a cocky smirk on his face and my bags hovering by his side. Quickly catching up to him, we walked to the cars side by side. I wouldn't say that Erik and I were friends now, but there wasn't any – or much – lingering anger between us. We weren't enemies at least, not that I'd ever considered Erik my enemy, although I probably couldn't say the same for him. At the worst I'd pegged him as suspicious, but I found most people suspicious anyway.

Emily was scrutinising me, her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. "What? You wanted me to talk to him, and I did."

"I meant _really_ talk," she said, crossing her arms. "You may find out you have a lot in common."

Now _my_ eyes narrowed on her. "... What do you know? You read his mind, didn't you!"

"Oh, it's not like I could help it. Literally. Now get in the car, Charles is taking us out for dinner," Emily said, pushing me into the car before rushing off to join the other car. Erik dumped my bags in the boot of the car I was in, before sliding into the driver's seat. Sean and Alex were in the back, Alex being silent and staring out of the window while Sean tried to annoy him into doing something else. As the other car followed us back to the mansion, I enjoyed the scenery as Erik didn't seem the type to want to talk much, when a sudden red blur amongst the greenery caught my attention. It was there and gone in under a second, but there had been something there.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?" Erik huffed, before throwing back a mild threat at Sean to sit down properly in his seat because it wasn't Alex he was annoying any more.

"There was something outside, amongst the trees," I said, my eyes scanning the side of the road for that red blur again. "Look."

"I'm sure it was nothing."

The red blur appeared again, but closer, before it vanished just as quickly. "There it was again!"

Erik sighed, glancing out of my side window for a second, before looking back at the road. "I don't see anything."

Smoke and the faint scent of sulphur then filled the car. When it cleared, there was a red man sat between Erik and me, with pale blue eye, a black goatee and a gleaming white smirk. "Do you see something now?" I drawled.

"Azazel!" Alex growled out from the back, lunging forwards to hit him or something. I'd never seen Alex so angry before. But he never managed to get his punch in, because in the next second, one _really_ red hand grabbed my arm, and I suddenly found myself standing outside. On top of the car. The _moving_ car. I threw my arms out to help balance me, and saw Raven and Hank's faces pressed close to the windscreen in the car behind us, shock evident on their faces.

"Your brother sends his regards," the red man, Azazel if Alex was right, said.

At the mention of my brother, the anger coursing through me easily overtook my surprise and slight fear of this new predicament. And then Azazel pulled out a pair of swords. _Not fair!_ I ducked the first slash of his swords, but then a freaking _tail_ wrapped around my ankle and pulled my legs out from under me, making me fall backwards onto the roof of the car. I rolled out of the way when Azazel stabbed at me, the sword ending up embedded in the car roof instead of me, thankfully.

Down by one sword, Azazel wasn't put out, raising his other sword for another strike. _Do something, Rosa, don't just lie there!_ Throwing my hands up, Azazel's arm froze, his whole body froze, as I restricted him with his own clothes. He growled as he tried to move himself, even more so when I started tugging his other sword from his hand. But I didn't manage that, because of Azazel's freaking _tail_ whipping out again and pulling me off of the car.

I was lucky not to be hit by the other car thanks to some surprising expert driving skills from Hank, but still ended up rolling across the road. I quickly got to my feet, the adrenaline pumping through me when I couldn't see a certain red man in sight. _Where was he?_ Up ahead, the two cars pulled to a sudden stop, and Emily was already racing to me. _Stupid girl!_ "Get back!" Emily wasn't a fighter. She'd only hurt herself.

Erik caught up to her, and thankfully pushed her back to the others.

And then _he_ started running towards me.

_Stupid man!_

I didn't have time to think much on Erik, as Azazel suddenly made his reappearance behind me, stabbing at me with his stupid sword. I dodged in time to not end up a kebab, but not enough to avoid it entirely. It left a long gash in my left side, and he'd vanished before I could retaliate. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I pushed Erik back to the others and spun around, ready for Azazel's next appearance. There wasn't long to wait, and I smelt the sulphur before I saw the smoke, and managed to sock him one to the jaw. Azazel was obviously surprised, because he looked shocked as he looked up at me from the ground.

Using my powers, I tugged the sword free from his grip and threw it to one side. Before Azazel could escape again, I held him in place with my powers, lifting him up high into the air before slamming him into the ground again. Keeping him in place, my boiling anger was easily overcoming my pain, and I stormed towards him. Emily shouted a warning out, to me, not to kill Azazel. I waved her off, I wasn't going to kill him – _this time_ – he was more valuable to me alive than dead right now. Forcing him harder against the ground, I glared at Azazel, "Where is he? Where's Max? And if you even think of lying to me, I have two telepaths who will tell me. Understood?"

Azazel continued to struggle against my hold on him, but relented when he realised how useless it was. Eventually he just smirked at me, "Your brother is visiting femily."

"Femily?" My heart suddenly stopped. "_Family?_"

"Da," Azazel said, reverting to his native Russian. Then I felt something slither around my neck – _damn tail!_ – and throw me down, choking me at the same time. Losing my concentration on pinning Azazel down along with the oxygen in my lungs, he managed to push me down, throttling me with his hands now. I kicked and punched at him, but it was no use, he had me pinned, and the end of his pointed tail was soon hovering just above my eye. A sudden bright red light flew past above, just missing Azazel's head by inches. His head snapped to the side, and he growled angrily before vanishing.

I gasped for breath, slamming my fist angrily against the ground. I knew Azazel had gone. I didn't know where, but it was my brother, Max's, whereabouts I was more concerned with. Erik was first by my side, followed by Emily only a second later. Erik pressed down on my wound, and I hissed at the flare of pain it caused, but didn't stop him, listening to him bark out orders to the others. Soon Hank was beside him, helping deal with my injury. But there were more pressing matters. I reached up and pulled Emily down by the collar of her shirt, closer so she could hear me. "F-Find them," I asked her, wincing as Hank pressed down harder on my left side. Looking up at Emily, I repeated myself, "Find them and bring them h-here."

She frowned down at me, "I can't. I'm not strong enough, I can't reach them from here."

Glancing back to the cars, I asked her, "Can he find them?"

Emily looked over at Charles, silently communicating with him for a minute it seemed, before looking back at me. "Yes."

"Do you trust him?"

"Absolutely."

Closing my eyes for a moment, I weighed up my options quickly in my head. _It's the only way_. I'd known these people not even twenty-four hours, and while they were nice to be around, it took a lot for me to trust someone. But did I really have a choice right now? _No_. "Okay... okay... let him read my mind."

"Are you su-"

"We are wasting time, just do it Emily!"

She nodded, lightly pressing a finger to my forehead and closing her eyes for a minute. Then her eyes opened, and she smiled reassuringly down at me, "It's done. Rest, Rosa, I'll make sure everything is taken care of." Nodding tiredly to her, I let my body slack against the grass, closing my eyes tiredly. That attack was unexpected, I'd let my guard down. I'd be prepared for next time. I _had_ to. And I _would_ get my revenge.

"Damn _bloody_ tail..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

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><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

Waking up in Hank's lab was going to become a habit of mine, I could tell. The room seemed to double as an infirmary. At least the bed I was in was quite comfy. Nonetheless, I pushed myself up, looking down at myself to find myself dressed in some grey sweats, and I could feel no bandages or anything on me whatsoever. Lifting up the hoodie, I felt my left side, where Azazel had slashed me with his sword. There was nothing there. Not even a scar.

_Emily_.

Since I seemed healed, and my body only ached a little, I started pulling multiple sticky patches and wires off of me, gently pulling the IV drip out of the back of my left hand. Getting out of the bed, I stood on shaky legs for a moment, before regaining my balance and heading out of the lab to find the rest of the people in the house. I soon bumped into Emily – she always seemed to be there for me now – who ordered me back to bed. I refused, so instead I was ordered to a chair. I relented, my body tired already and aching more now from moving through the large mansion.

Emily sat me down on a long couch in an empty room, a study from the looks of it, and sat down opposite me on the coffee table. Silence reigned for a while, but it never lasted long around her. "Raven was really worried when you passed out. We all were. Even Erik. Raven likes having us around, seems to think we balance out the number of boys better-"

"How long was I out?"

"Only a day. I fixed you up, but the human body still needs time to recover from the accelerated healing. You _are_ feeling better, right?"

"Did Charles manage to find them?"

"Yes."

"... And now he knows everything about me."

"Yes," Emily said, dropping her gaze down to her hands. "He knows everything. Just as I do."

"Where is he?"

"All of them are about, training. I think he may be outside with Hank though, strengthening his legs. I was waiting for you to wake up." I silently nodded to her, startled when her hands suddenly shot out and grabbed mine. "You mustn't do this, Rosa, don't build up those walls again. You are among _friends_, you are safe here, we all are. There's no need for you to become so guarded again. What happened with Azazel was impossible to predict. None of us even know that he was working for Max now-"

"But I _should_ be prepared," I growled, standing up and pacing about the couch. "I have been preparing for this for over a _decade_, I _will not_ fall so close to the end!"

Emily frowned as she watched me, "It doesn't have to end like that."

"Yes it does."

"Killing Max will not bring Klaus back."

"I know it won't," I snapped, _how naive did she think I was?_

"I don't think you're naive," _Oh, right, she can hear my thoughts now. _"But I don't believe killing is the answer," Emily said, standing now and looking at me with a level gaze.

"Maybe you've _seen_ what's in my head, and maybe you've even felt it, but you haven't _lived_ it like I have," I hissed at her, moving so we were almost nose-to-nose. "You have no idea..."

Sadness seemed to fall across Emily's face, "You're right, of course, but I can feel your hate and anger now, as well as your fear and sadness. So many conflicting emotions. Killing Max will not bring peace to anyone."

"This is not about peace. It is about revenge."

"You will forever have the blood of your brother on your hands. Can you live with that, Rosa? I _know_ you are a good person. Can you really kill him?"

"I can and I will. When I die, I will be happy in the knowledge that I would have taken him with me." Those big brown eyes of hers narrowed at me, thoughtful in their gaze, and scrutinising. She could literally read me. The subject was dropped, both of us seeing that the other wouldn't budge. Turning away from Emily, I returned to sit on the couch, dropping my head back tiredly. I could still feel her eyes on me, but Emily didn't say anything for a while, and I didn't hear her move either.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back to bed? You're still healing Rosa, and I know how stubborn you are, but you can't _make_ yourself better with pure stubbornness."

Shaking my head, I closed my eyes. I was comfortable enough here, not really motivated to move. "Do you know how long until they get here?"

"They should be here tomorrow."

"Thank you." I said, opening my eyes enough to see Emily still standing.

Emily smiled at me, coming to brush some of my hair out of my face, concern still etched on her face. "I'll leave you be for a bit. Sean's hurt himself training, so I'm heading outside. If you need me, just think it and I'll be back as quick as I can."

Nodding to her, I felt Emily's hand drop from my head, and listened to her footsteps as she left the room. It took only moments for my eyes to close fully again, and sleep washed over me. But I had barely fallen asleep when movement roused me and I was no longer slouched on the couch. Instead, I was being carried through the halls by someone, a strong arm behind my back and knees holding me steady against a broad chest. Lifting my eyes up a familiar-looking brown leather jacket and black turtleneck, I saw it was indeed Erik carrying me, serious expression still set in place. "...Erik?"

"Go back to sleep."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Sleeping where you were would give you neck ache," was Erik's gruff response, eyes still staring ahead down the corridor he was walking.

"I don't want to go back to the lab."

"I'm not taking you there."

"Then where are you taking me?"

"Stop moving around so much. You'll make me drop you."

He had answered _none_ of my questions, in that annoying way of his, and right now I wouldn't be surprised if he was off to find a quiet place to kill me. Still, wherever Erik was taking me, I felt very comfortable where I was right now, and settled back against him, resting my head on his shoulder. A door opened without either of us touching it, no doubt Erik had used the door knob to move it, and he carried me into the room. I was gently lowered onto a cool soft surface, a bed, and a duvet drawn over me. It was impossible for me to stop a small chuckle leaving my lips. "You're actually tucking me in."

Erik huffed, standing abruptly away from me, making me laugh again. That almost flustered expression was a refreshing change to his usual. "Sleep."

I glanced around the room, the light from the open door easily letting me recognise the dark wood furnishings of my room. "Thank you." Erik said nothing, merely nodded, before silently leaving the room, the door closing gently behind him without anyone touching it still and plunging the room into darkness. Rolling onto my right side, I closed my eyes again, and this time my sleep wasn't interrupted.

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><p>'<em>Rosa, wake up,'<em> a voice spoke from nowhere, dragging me up from the black emptiness of sleep. I knew who it was. _'Come on Rosa, they're here. Well, just down the drive-'_

Emily had barely finished speaking before I had already leapt out of bed and started running through the corridors. _Had I slept another whole day?_ Perhaps I was overestimating how much my body could cope. I ran past a surprised looking Hank, almost knocking Sean over and skipping around Charles and Erik in my race to the front door. Flinging the door open with my powers, I slid to a stop on the gravel outside, my eyes darting around the grounds. Crunching sounds behind me told me someone had followed me out, and I glanced back to see Charles and Erik heading towards me, but my attention was taken when I heard a deep voice call out to me.

"Rosa!"

Standing maybe fifty yards away from me on the tan gravel were two people I'd not seen in months. One was a man, muscular, with a mop of black hair falling into hazel eyes, and a bright white grin growing by the second. He was dressed in a dark grey pullover and jeans, a duffel bag in one hand and a backpack across his shoulders. But it was the other who grabbed my attention, the one who was already racing towards me.

"Mama!"

"Gabriel," I ran to him, running much faster than his little legs. Skidding to a stop only feet from him, I fell to my knees and was almost knocked over with the force of Gabriel knocking into me. His little arms wrap tightly around me, his legs attaching to my waist as I pulled him into a tight hug. "Gabriel, mein Liebling." My eyes filled up with tears, but didn't let a single one escape as I buried my face into Gabriel's auburn-brown curls, pressing kisses on his head all over.

My little boy refused to cry just like his Mama, but he was sniffling as he pressed his face into the crook of my neck, and I ignored any dampness I felt there. "Mama, I missed you," Gabriel mumbled, small hands clutching tightly to me.

"I know, I'm sorry," I whispered back, rocking Gabriel gently in my arms trying to soothe him. "Shh, I'm here. I'm so sorry." A larger set of arms wrapped around both of us, and I was lifted back to my feet. My eyes tore away from Gabriel for a moment to see it was the man with hazel eyes hugging us, his grin near splitting his face in half. "Franz."

Gabriel and I were lifted clear off the ground in the hug, Franz's belly-deep laughter ringing in my ears. "All together again at last." Setting us down, Franz's sharp eyes looked me over, "Are you eating enough? You look skinnier. You had better be taking proper care of yourself, young lady." I just grinned at Franz, to happy to see him again to let his mother-henning annoy me yet, especially with Gabriel still in my arms. He was bigger than the last time I'd seen him, but that had been months ago. Judging by the tight grip he still had on me, I doubted Gabriel would be letting go any time soon. And that was fine by me. "Well, you've definitely moved up, Rosa."

Franz's eyes were taking in the beautiful grounds, and I remembered Erik and Charles, patiently – or seemingly patiently – waiting on the gravel for the end of my little reunion. Leading Franz to them, Charles already had a smile on his face, sticking his hand out to Franz. "Charles Xavier, pleasure to meet you. And this is Erik Lensherr."

"Franz Maas," he said as he shook their hands, a smirk playing on his lips, "I know your voice, and yet, I've never seen you before in my life."

"Yes, well, I'm sure we _all_ have many things to discuss. Shall we go back inside?"

Charles led the group back into the house, Gabriel perfectly content in my arms. "Mama? The bad man won't find us here, will he?"

"No, he won't."

"Or the red man?"

My head snapped up at that one, and I looked over at Franz. He had heard what Gabriel had said, and motioned for me to ask questions later. My grip on my baby boy tightened nonetheless, "Or the red man. We're... we're with friends here. Alles ist gut, mein liebling, alles ist gut." Gabriel rested his head back down, reassured now, and happy to let me carry him inside. He yawned against my neck, and I only now noticed the dark bags under Franz's eyes. If Charles had contacted Franz as soon as possible, then it was very likely that Franz would have pushed himself to race here non-stop. It wouldn't be the first time that either one of us had gone for days without sleep, but it was never a favourable idea. Still, Franz seemed unwilling to rest yet, and knowing him as well as I did I could see that he was still on full alert around these new unfamiliar surroundings despite his weariness.

Gabriel was much easier. He had already fallen asleep in my arms before I'd stepped into the mansion. _I suppose we'll introduce everyone to him later..._


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

**AN: So, glad everyone liked Erik tucking Rosa into bed, and I'm happy everyone likes the two new characters so far too.**

**More to be explained, although I will be away from the computer for nearly 2 weeks, so hold on for updates, sorry!**

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><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

Gabriel wasn't usually shy, in fact, he could be a downright handful when he wanted. But I suppose more recent happenings had dampened down his happier demeanour, along with my absence. Given a few days of rest and safety, and I was sure that he'd be back to normal. At least he was sleeping peacefully. Franz was drilling Charles with a plethora of questions about the mansion, its history and its architecture, areas I'd never even thought of. That being said, half of the time I'd spent here I'd been asleep.

"Charles, you called?" Hank said, entering the living room where Franz was setting his bags down. Behind him were the others, all looking curiously at the new guests. All of course except for Emily, who was smiling softly at the sleeping Gabriel.

"Erm, everybody, this is Franz Maas, and Gabriel, my son," I said, before turning. "Franz, this is Alex, Hank, Raven and Sean," I continued, pointing each one out to him.

"Wonderful to meet all of you, I'm sure that we'll all become great friends and all that, but I'm _famished_. Where's your kitchen?" Franz asked Charles. It wasn't surprising, it wasn't very often or very long that Franz wasn't thinking with his stomach. The only reason he wasn't massively obese from all the food – wonderful, _delicious_, heavenly food – that he created and ate was that he had an envious metabolic rate and we'd had a life recently where we'd been on the run quite often.

I wasn't _incompetent_ in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, but with powers like mine, I was more adept and confident in distanced fighting. As a result, whenever we'd run into trouble and a fight had broken out, if anyone got past my initial defences, Franz was there. He had been trained and was highly skilled in combat of all sorts. I'd rarely had to fight personally myself, like I had with Azazel, in a long time with Franz around. Not that he hadn't taught me well, he had, but I suppose I relied a little too much on my powers.

That's why it made sense nearly five months ago when Max had found us that I was the one to chase after him. I could attack at a distance. I could attack from a _safer_ distance than Franz could, however capable he was, especially in lieu of other mutants with my brother. It had been heart-breaking leaving Gabriel and Franz in hiding like that, but I trusted Franz with my life and Gabriel's, and I _had_ to get Max. I _had_ to get him, not only for my own revenge, but for Franz, and to protect my baby. There was no way in _hell_ Gabriel was every going to go through even a second of what I had with Max. No one would if I had any say.

Hank, being the polite person that he was, offered to show Franz to the kitchen after a nod from Charles. Franz was practically skipping after him, eager to fill that abyss he called a stomach. Slowly and filled with curiosity about the exuberant newcomers, the rest of them bar Emily trailed after Franz, and I'm sure I heard Sean asking him what he was going to cook. Emily drifted into the room, sitting on a chair beside Charles and picking up a book lying on the side table. I then turned to Charles, "You wouldn't mind lending two more rooms, would you?" It was only polite to ask. He may have been the one who sent for Franz and Gabriel, but he was still the owner of this house. It wasn't polite to be presumptuous.

He just smiled charmingly in that happy way of his, "It's not a problem. The more the merrier." Perhaps I didn't one hundred percent trust anyone here other than Franz and Gabriel yet, but that was growing more by the day. The biggest help had been the fact that none of them had tried to kill us. Well, other than Erik, twice, and that had really been a misunderstanding. It was really starting to feel like home here, and I would definitely count Hank, Emily and Charles the closest to new friends I'd had in a while, even Erik I suppose, although I'd still carry a little grudge against him for attacking me twice like he had. "I'm flattered, Rosa."

_Wha_- I flushed when I remembered that my mind was free for picking now. Scowling softly at Charles, I said, "Don't go thinking I'm going soft or anything."

"Of course not."

"What is it?" Erik asked, looking between the two of us, a small frown on his face. _Charles, don't you dare tell him I think we're friends._

"Rosa was just thinking how much she was growing to like it here," Charles answered him, although I saw the sparkle of mischief in his eyes. "And how much she was coming to like several residents-"

"So I'll just go sort out those two rooms. Erik, thanks for volunteering to help. You like carrying bags as far as I remember," I rushed, looking expectantly up at him. Erik blinked several times, as though checking whether I was serious or not. I was perfectly serious. There was no chance I was leaving him alone with two people who could read my mind and seemed to take equal pleasure in destroying this tough image I'd painted, _yes I can see you giggling behind your book Emily. _

Seeing that I wasn't backing down, Erik sighed, before grabbing the bags Franz had left. He didn't use his powers, which surprised me. He did brush past me and head off into the mansion expecting me to follow, which didn't surprise me. It was unfair too. I wasn't _tiny_, but Erik's long legs meant that every one step he took equalled two-and-a-half of mine. I was practically jogging to keep up with him, but careful not to disturb Gabriel.

When we reached the corridor where my room was, Erik then let me lead, picking the rooms. Floating the linens from the cupboard to follow me, I chose the room two doors down from mine for Franz. Far enough to offer us both more privacy at night, but close enough to feel comforted by each other's presence. With a flick of my wrists, the door to the room opened, and like ghosts at work, half of the sheets started setting up the room. Checking that everything was working properly – I didn't want the room to be like a scene from The Sorceror's Apprentice – before continuing to my room. The small smile on Erik's face made me pause though, and I looked questioningly to him, taking the time to look at his admittedly lovely smile.

"Raven was right," he said, before looking away from me. "Spectre suits you."

I wasn't sure how to take that from Erik, so simply nodded to him. Deciding on the room directly opposite mine for Gabriel, I opened the door with a wave of my hand, and stepped inside. Again, the sheets set about the room, the bed making itself and the windows opening to air the room a little. With the bed quickly done, I gently lay Gabriel on top of the sheets as it was still daytime and the room was warm enough. He didn't resist, he just fell amongst the pillows like a ragdoll, so tired.

Erik set the bags in his hands on the end of the bed. There was plenty of space, since Gabriel took up barely half the length of the bed. "Thank you."

He shrugged, moving to the door. "Do you... need anything else?"

I shook my head. "I'll stay here with Gabi. Just get someone to get me when Franz is finished cooking. It's been so long since I tasted his food, I don't want to miss it." Erik nodded to me, before leaving the room. My eyes turned back to Gabriel, sleeping peacefully still, eyes shut and mouth slightly open with soft snores rolling out. _He didn't get that from me_. Slipping onto the bed beside him, I lay on my side taking in the sight of my baby. After months apart, I didn't feel like leaving Gabriel any time soon. Brushing a hand across his plump cheek and pushing some of his unruly hair out of his face. I'd missed that face.

With him here, along with Franz, it felt like a great weight had been lifted off of me. In hiding, I know Franz would have done anything and everything to keep Gabriel safe. But it was just so much more comforting having them both here, in the same house as me, safe and close by. I felt lighter, and it felt easier to breath. My body just seemed to untwist a little with the stress gone. Without even realising, my eyelids dropped over my eyes, and I fell asleep – _again_ – but content with my baby beside me again.

* * *

><p>Franz's dinner was a hit, as it always was. I swear that he could have nothing but stale bread and water and somehow make a gourmet dish of it. So it was no surprise that his cooking was a hit amongst the ravenous teenage population of the household. Between them and Franz, the rest of us were lucky to have gotten any food. Gabriel had woken up only with the promise of Franz's food. He was – as I predicted – quite shy meeting the other residents of the mansion, but that didn't stop his appetite, and he dug right in, competing it seemed with Sean on how much they could fit into their mouths at once.<p>

I was simultaneously proud and disgusted that Gabriel somehow won. It was the source of amusement for everyone though, especially when during the competition, Alex and Raven had started rooting for him over Sean, whooping for him to add _just a morsel more_. It seemed to have helped Gabriel overcome some of his shyness, and the energetic ball of a boy I knew as my son appeared briefly.

When I noticed Franz nodding off into his empty plate, I suggested to him to go to bed. He resisted only slightly, before relenting, too tired to argue. Franz lifted Gabriel into his arms, the little lazy boy also nodding off, and bid us all goodnight. I gave them both kisses on their cheeks, but decided not to go to bed yet. That afternoon nap with Gabriel had refilled my energy. Raven and Hank _disappeared_, while Sean and Alex's competitive spirits seemed to have awoken, leading to them heading outside to train. I wasn't a teacher here yet, but it worried me when I think I heard that Sean was going to practise being a _moving target_...

Emily gathered the dirty plates and cutlery, balancing them on one arm like a professional and heading to the kitchen, Charles trailing behind her, and both sharing smiles that told me they were having a conversation that no one else could hear. _Something's going on there..._ There had to be, from the way Charles was looking at Emily. He didn't even have any dirty plates to give him reason to return to the kitchen, other than the company.

My thoughts were cut off though when the last other occupant in the room – other than myself – decided to speak. "Drink?"

Turning to Erik, I saw him in the next room, watching me with a tumbler of something clear and golden already in his hand. There was something about the way he was looking at me that seemed to compel me to join him in the next room. "I'll have whatever you're having."

He nodded, handing the glass he had already prepared to me while he returned to the bar. _Of course this mansion has a bar. I just hope the teenagers can't get into this_. Erik poured himself another glass as I sat down, sniffing the drink, _good old whiskey_. Sipping the fiery liquid, a satisfying warmth blossomed in my chest from the drink. Erik sat on the other end of the long couch, twisting his torso so he was facing me. It was only polite to do the same I suppose, so I also turned to face him, propping one leg onto the empty seat between us. He was looking expectantly at me, but in what I was dubbing 'typical Erik fashion' was allowing me to extract the question from his head, although _I_ wasn't a mind reader.

"What?" I finally asked. For some reason, Erik looked almost embarrassed, but only for a second before his usual superior look returned.

"Is Franz a mutant?"

"You haven't asked Charles?"

Erik huffed, waving his arm dismissively, "Charles doesn't believe it polite to read someone's mind without permission."

"... No, he's not a mutant."

"But he knows about you and your power."

"Yes," I said, swirling my whiskey slightly. "He was one of the first to know."

"So you've known him a while."

Erik seemed to have a way of asking something in the form of a question, so it seemed that he knew everything. It was rather frustrating, but an interesting habit. Perhaps I could learn to use it against him one day. "Yes."

He appeared to be gathering his thoughts for a moment, so I took another sip of my whiskey. "Is he the father of your child?"

I choked in surprise, managing to turn my head away from Erik just in time to prevent him being sprayed with whiskey. Some of the stuff went up my nose, and that was _not_ pleasant. But I couldn't help laughing when my spluttering had died down, setting my glass down for safety's sake. I glanced up at Erik, who appeared to be angry with me – _like that was new_ – and only made me snort. "Franz isn't Gabi's father. He's more of an uncle to him. Why?"

"You seemed very comfortable around him," Erik pointed out. "More so than anyone else I'd seen you with. I just assumed..."

"Gabi's father and I spent one drunken night together. I know his name and his phone number, and that's it. He wasn't interested in raising children. It was for the best." Picking up my tumbler again, I sipped cautiously, "What about you? Do you have any family?"

I knew it was dangerous territory from the look in Erik's eye, almost gunmetal grey in their anger, but I maintained his gaze. Eventually he answered, biting out every word, "I have no one left."

_Yep, dangerous territory. _Oh well, it was too late to retract that. _Perhaps a change in topic_. "Charles said you were the Foreign Languages teacher here. So how many other languages do you know?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

**AN: I'm BAAAAACK! And I really, _really_ missed writing**

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><p><span>Chapter 7<span>

Shaking. Shaking my whole body. Something was shaking my whole body. I was usually such a light sleeper, and yet, three nights sleeping in a warm and cosy bed as opposed to the more usual rough patches was already making me soft. Tempted to simply swat away whatever was shaking me from my slumber, I suddenly remembered that the mansion had gained two new residents, and I had a feeling I knew who it was trying to wake me up.

I shot up in bed in an instant to see the wet and frightened face of my Gabriel kneeling on the edge of my bed. He reached for me with a sob, "Mama."

He was cradled in my arms in the next second, and I began trying to calm him down as he started crying. "Shh, was it another nightmare? Mama's here, nothing is going to hurt you."

Standing up from the bed with Gabriel still in my arms, I went about the usual routine Franz and I did to settle Gabriel when he'd had a nightmare. It involved a lot of walking. He didn't like staying in one place too long, perhaps feeling too vulnerable, like the dreams would catch up with him. So walking about we went. Thankfully this was a mansion we were in, so there was plenty of space to go walking. Much more preferable to simply pacing back and forth between the one shared bedroom and bathroom we'd sometimes stayed at in the past. I simultaneously rubbed Gabriel's back and navigated through the dark corridors seamlessly while whispering comforting words in his ear, aware of the other sleeping occupants of the house.

I ended up slowly walking through the whole floor, and the one above, and still Gabriel wasn't calmed down. _It must have been a bad one_. Usually by now he had either stopped crying or had started telling me about what he'd dreamt of. Yet still, nothing. _Time for Plan B_. My feet carried us downstairs to where I already had the kitchen memorised, and without letting go of Gabriel the cupboards started opening of their own accord as I searched for what I needed. _Come on, where could it be?_

"Looking for something?"

The sudden voice from behind startled me, but I turned around to find it was only Charles, dressed in grey sweats and sat in his wheelchair, one leg casually slung over the other. "Did we wake you?"

He shook his head, "I haven't gone to bed yet. I felt Gabriel's distress though, so I thought I'd check on you both."

_Did you see what he dreamt of? _Charles shook his head, _'I only saw vague images. It was over before I had a chance to investigate.'_

I nodded to him, it made sense. Often when Gabriel spoke of his nightmares, little of it made sense, other than the fact that they terrified him. The most specific anyone had ever gotten from Gabriel was that sometimes Max was in the dreams. Perhaps the 'red man' had starred in tonight's. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to make hot chocolate with, would you? It makes no sense, but the warmth outweighs the sugar and caffeine in sending him back to a peaceful sleep."

A soft smile crossed Charles's face, and he pointed behind me. "The middle shelf at the back, just help yourself."

Nodding my thanks and shortening my search, the tin of sweet cocoa powder slowly drifted down to the counter in front of me. In the next moment I had the kettle switched on, and the cupboard for the mugs open. I looked back to see Charles wheeling himself out of the room, "Would you like a cup?"

Charles paused in the doorway, considering the offer for a moment, before turning and wheeling himself to the kitchen table. "I'd love some."

With a nod, three mugs floated to the table, some of the cocoa powder being distributed into each mug as the almost boiled water was poured in. The contents stirred themselves, and each mug slid across the kitchen table to each of us. It was quiet at first while I got Gabriel to settle down enough to drink. Eventually – and with what I suspect was a little persuasion from Charles – Gabriel calmed enough to sip tiredly at his hot chocolate, tired again from his crying. It was an almost instant effect, the warm liquid in his belly soothing him so he was comfortably cradled in one of my arms drinking his sweet treat. His eyes fixed on Charles across from us, and his head cocked to one side. "You like hot chocolate?"

"Occasionally," Charles said. "As a treat."

"They make me sleepy."

"Me too."

"But it's my favourite."

"I must say I prefer tea."

Gabriel pondered this new fact, before nodding at long last. "That's okay too, I guess."

With my son's stamp of approval – because that _was_ what that was – Gabriel was content to let me continue any conversation. I was just glad of anything to distract Gabriel from his previous nightmares. Charles beat me though. "Did you enjoy your drink earlier with Erik?"

"You had hot chocolate _without_ me?" Gabriel cried, looking at me with pure _betrayal_ on his face. _So overdramatic_.

"_No_. I had an adult drink."

His button nose scrunched up, "The ones that smell funny?"

"Yes, that kind," I said, before looking up at Charles. "And it was fine. We talked." Happy now that he was sure I hadn't cheated on him in drinking hot chocolate, Gabriel returned to drinking his hot chocolate. Satisfied that his fears were at bay for now, I took a sip from my own mug, before looking up at Charles again. "So, what are you still doing up at nearly one in the morning?"

An almost smirk crossed Charles's face as he tapped his temple. "Thinking."

_Obviously_, I thought to myself, rolling my eyes at him and earning a small chuckle from the man. "About what?"

"Everything. There's so much to think about," Charles said with a sigh, staring deeply into his mug of hot chocolate.

"You mean, there's so much to worry about," I corrected him, saying what he was really thinking. I didn't have to be a mind-reader to know – even in the short time I'd known him – that Charles was so very protective and worried over everything and everyone. My appearance and the appearance of more of my _family_, especially the bad half, couldn't have helped any on top of the usual. "If there's anything I can do to help... I mean, you are my boss now."

"I prefer to think of us all as family," Charles said with a smile. His smile dropped slightly when he looked down though, his hot chocolate still untouched.

"What's wrong?" I asked, shifting Gabriel in my arms. He was falling asleep again, happily having finished his drink and comforted. Charles's mouth opened, but I cut him off before he had a chance, my eyes pinning him in place, "Don't even think of lying to me either. A woman knows when she's being lied to." He nodded but said nothing, looking down again. I followed his gaze and my eyes landed on his legs, one still slung over the other, his foot twitching slightly now and then. But it was now that I noticed something else. The dirt on the bottom of Charles's feet, the slight sheen of sweat across his face and neck, as well as a bruise on his forehead and some graze marks on his hands. "You haven't been thinking all night, you've been trying to walk again. If you push yourself too much, you'll only hurt yourself. Hank and Emily told you that. Especially if you keep falling over."

"It's not _fair_," Charles whined, resembling my three-year-old son more than the grown man that he was. "I- I can feel my legs, I can _move_ them. It's just so frustrating to _know_ that I can walk again, but not be _able_ to. Why... why-"

"Why didn't Emily just fix you up completely?"

"I know I shouldn't be complaining. Here I've been given an opportunity. I've regained something I thought I'd lost forever, but it just all seems so pointless when it makes no difference. I'm still stuck in this wheelchair."

Just resisting the urge to kick a man when he was down, I resorted to glaring at him. "This is a gift, and not to sound apathetic, but you have no right to question whatever Emily did for you. Frankly, it's a miracle you can feel what you can now."

"It's just frustrating-"

"Everything worth anything takes time," I snapped at him, before lowering my voice when I felt Gabriel fidget in my arms. "Emily could probably have fixed you up entirely, but would it have been better in the long term? You spent a long time in that wheelchair. Don't you think it's _your_ fight to leave it? If someone else did all the work, you wouldn't deserve the right to walk again, no matter how good a person you are. Did you let someone else do all the work for all your degrees? I doubt it, because you aren't the type. Charles, you were born into privilege with the world at your feet, and you work _so_ hard to prove to yourself that you deserve any of it. Why should this be different? You just need to draw on some of that patience you use on the boys and apply it now."

Charles was looking at me, deep in thought, but still not saying anything. Maybe I'd surprised him. He didn't seem the type to be told off.

"You earn your miracles, Charles," I said, standing and sending my mug and Gabriel's to the sink. I left Charles's still full mug in front of him, letting him digest what I was telling him. "Everything may feel just out of reach right now, but it's not. Soon you'll have the whole world at your disposal again. As long as you don't overwork yourself that is. Muscles need working, but they also need rest to strengthen and build up. A scientist like you should know more about that than a simple English teacher like me."

"Am I to assume that Emily is my 'angel' then, granting my miracles?"

"Everybody has angels," I said simply, heading out of the kitchen now. "And just because you _like_ Emily doesn't mean you can't _ever_ hurt her feelings. If you have a problem, tell her. She seems the type who likes talking about feelings and stuff."

Charles was an amusing ball of flustered embarrassment, stuttering a retort no doubt for a few moments before anything coherent could be heard. "I have no idea what you mean."

Now I was the one smirking, "Go to bed, Charles. And clean your feet, they're filthy."

I left him chuckling lightly and headed up to Gabriel's room on tiptoes, gently depositing the sleepy boy on his bed. His little hands clung tightly to me though, refusing to let go.

"Gabi, let go. Mama needs to go to bed too."

Slivers of hazel eyes peered up at me in the dark room, "Don't want you to go."

I frowned. It had been a while since Gabriel had wanted me to stay with him. He had in fact been the one to insist on being a big boy who could sleep by himself. _It must have been a really bad dream_. "You want me to stay?"

He bit his lip, a little reluctant to admit that it seemed. "Just tonight."

Nudging him across the bed, I lay on top of the duvet beside him, Gabriel snuggling into my arms. "Sleep, mein Liebling," I whispered, running a hand soothingly through his hair. "Sleep."

"Have to-" Gabriel's speech was interrupted by a large yawn, which was still as adorable as ever to watch, although eventually I was going to have to drill into him the idea to cover your mouth when you yawned. "-have to protect Mama..." Yes, Gabriel's nightmares usually involved Franz or me being hurt. He was as protective as a three-year-old could be of his family, in other words, with big intentions but easily distracted by simple things like dinner.

"Mama's safe," I whispered to him nonetheless. "Mama's safe and so is Franz. Everything is alright. Sleep."

At long last listening to me, Gabriel's eyes closed fully and his breathing deepened and evened out. The tight grip he had on me didn't vanish, but that was to be expected. I longed for the days not six months ago when Gabriel rarely ever had nightmares and he had no knowledge about his evil uncle or red men other than Santa Claus. But this was the way things were now. At least things looked to be improving. I would get to teach again, something I loved to do. And Franz and Gabriel were somewhere safe, at least to my knowledge. It made it easier on my mind whenever I would leave to pursue Max, because I hadn't forgotten him. I _would_ get him.

But I wouldn't let him ruin my life. I wouldn't let Max ruin my chance to _live_ a good life.

That was something I'd promised someone important a long time ago. And I never broke my promises.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

**AN: a reminder that this is a First Class AU, so more based on the movies more than the comics, although I may use some references.**

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><p><span>Chapter 8<span>

Two weeks later, and everyone seemed to have settled into a routine that just fit. We all met for breakfast and dinner – whipped up by Franz, our self-appointed chef – like a real family. No one missed those meals together. Someone would drag Hank away from his lab, and Charles away from his leg-strengthening exercises, and Emily went about collecting everyone from all corners of the mansion and the grounds, with Gabi happy to help as her little assistant.

It had only taken a few days for him to feel comfortable around everyone enough to reveal the mad energetic menace that he was. No more nightmares either. Gabi seemed to particularly enjoy running about in the morning and waking everyone up. No one scared him. Not even Erik. So far, according to Sean – which I was learning could be somewhat dodgy – no one had ever entered Erik's room to wake him and 'lived'. Even Charles was said to wake him telepathically from outside his room. Then again, people rarely had to wake him unless he'd had a particularly tiring day previously, as usually Erik was one of the first awake.

Or he had been until Gabi arrived.

Even Erik couldn't beat Gabi, who woke up at five-thirty on the dot. Gabi somehow seemed to have noticed Erik's early-morning habits, so made it part of his routine to go wake him up first. So now Erik went about his morning run a half-hour earlier every day, and I got an extra thirty minutes sleep. I was _not_ complaining. By the time Erik was back from his run, everyone else had been woken up, and breakfast was usually ready.

After breakfast, everyone dispersed about the house to their own business, or to town to shop or do whatever as it was the summer holidays. The days were our own. Charles had warned me to enjoy this freedom for now, because when the students arrived in September, there would be little rest. The students ranged in age, and they needed a lot of attention with dealing with their mutant powers. And we were here to provide a place for them to feel safe and accepted. Franz and I spent most of our time with Gabi, doing whatever he felt like doing that day, within reason.

Dinner would then come about, and Gabi would make his rounds with Emily dragging everyone together again. There would be chaos because of course Sean would prank _somebody_ and then it was all but short of another world war at the table. Inevitably he would be given the chore of washing up afterwards, along with anyone else who'd misbehaved. In the evening, after putting Gabi to bed, it was often spent in the company of Charles, Erik, Franz and Emily, with some soft music filling in the background. That is, when Franz wasn't off trying to create a new recipe with such a _beautiful_ – in his own words – kitchen now at his disposal. Or if Charles and Erik weren't having a long game of chess together. Or if Emily wasn't helping Charles with his legs.

It felt nice, being a part of this strange, special family.

Tonight Charles and Erik were enthralled in another battle of chess, and Franz had left long ago, bored from the game. I was growing a little bored watching them too, but I had Emily as company, and my umpteenth tumbler of whiskey in my hand, so I stayed and sat and watched. The hum of the alcohol was faint but constant in the back of my mind, but I was too relaxed right now to worry about any hangover effects I'd get tomorrow. I was twenty-seven, I had youth enough in me still to have a slight buzz now and again. _Maybe I should stop after this glass though_. I was young, but I was still a mother.

It was Erik's move right now, a tough one I was guessing too, judging from the smug smile dancing across Charles's lips. Erik was hunched over, elbows on his knees, chin resting on his hands and a frown furrowing his eyebrows as his narrowed green-grey eyes surveyed the chessboard in front of him. Charles must have had him stuck on what to do, because I could just make out the faint angry murmur from Erik's lips, and could only imagine the thoughts running through his head which were entertaining the telepath.

Emily was watching too, exchanging secret smiles with her fellow telepath every now and then between small sips of brandy. _I wonder what those two are thinking to each other._

With a small flick of his finger, Erik knocked over his king and slouched back in his chair. "You win, again," he said, a defeated smile on his face as he raised his martini to Charles. "I'll get you next time."

"You say that every time."

Erik grunted back at him, and his eyes turned to watch his drink as he swirled it in its glass.

Charles downed the last remnants of his own whiskey, before pushing away from the chessboard. Without much help, Charles had taken to sitting in the regular chairs about the mansion when not using his wheelchair to get about the place. He was getting stronger, definitely. Charles could stand much more easily now, and take a step or two unaided. His legs hurt less from their sudden reuse now, and it was enough to move from one chair to another. As he was beginning to do again now.

Only to start tipping forward.

As always, everyone leapt to catch him. Even me. He _was_ my friend too now. Erik was usually the fastest, but stuck behind the chessboard – which he knocked to one side regardless – that slowed him by split-seconds. Instead, Emily caught Charles. She staggered a little under the sudden added weight, but managed to wrap her arms around Charles's torso and regain her balance. He ended up just leaning on Emily really, but their heads knocked against each other accidently, and they were apologising profusely to each other.

_Did that count as an accidental telepathic kiss?_ I wondered. Their powers _were_ in their heads.

It appeared both telepaths heard my thoughts – _oops_ – and now Emily was steadily getting redder while a smirk was spreading across Charles's face. I had to hand it to him. For a guy who was being supported standing on newly animated legs, he seemed pretty confident enough to probably be mentally flirting with Emily. "Charles!" she exclaimed aloud to whatever he'd thought to her, only making Charles chuckle. Emily pouted, and tried to practically push Charles to his wheelchair. "I think I'm gonna head of to bed. That last brandy did it for me," Emily said, hugging me before leaving the room.

I literally counted down from ten for when Charles would excuse himself also. I got down to three when he cleared his throat and bid Erik and I goodnight as well.

Leaving just Erik and I in the study.

Ever since that drink together two weeks ago, Erik and I had not really been left alone together. We'd barely spoken really, and then only about the school. It was apparent from that first talk that neither of us was willing to talk much about more personal topics. Our friendship seemed on a sort of lull, both of us unsure where to go with it. That's why anyone else with us usually acted as a sort of buffer. I was sort of at a loss with what to do, but copied Erik as he took his seat again.

It was when he started smirking at me that I decided to break the growing silence. "What?"

"You're very quiet. Are you nervous?"

"Nervous of what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow challengingly at him. "You?"

"It wouldn't be the first time someone was, although this time unintentionally."

"You don't scare me."

A dark look flashed across Erik's face for a moment as he sipped at his martini. "Maybe I should."

I scoffed at him, "I know what's scary. I've been scared near to death, and you are not terrifying to me in the slightest."

Erik set down his martini glass and leant forward in his seat, eyes firmly fixed on me. "And _what_ is it that scared you so much?"

"Nothing you need know of," I replied with a smirk. The atmosphere in the room was growing tenser though.

"Your father?"

I knocked back the last of my whiskey – _no way in hell I'm talking about this_ – and rose to my feet, "Goodnight, Erik." I didn't reach the doorway before my own belt betrayed me and stopped me where I stood. "Gott verdammt..."

"We are going to have to discuss that topic eventually," Erik said as he circled around to stand in front of me. "You can't avoid it forever."

"Because you are the poster-boy for sharing-" my voice shrivelled up as Erik stepped closer, looking down at me from his height.

His eyes were almost gunmetal-grey, the green practically lost now, and unwavering in their gaze. He was so close that I could feel his breath, even and controlled, against my forehead, and heat radiating from his body. I almost blushed. It had been a while since I'd last been so close to someone like this, face to face, almost chest to chest. Screw me, I was nervous. If Erik was attacking me – like he had before – I could handle that. Right now, it felt like Erik was looming over me, cornering me, waiting for something.

_Stop staring at me!_

"I have a proposition," Erik said, a smirk pulling at the right corner of his lips. "For every piece of information you divulge about yourself, I will do the same, to the same degree."

"... Why do you want to know?"

"It'll be useful to us both to know more about the other in any case, for the safety of the team. Besides, we're supposed to be friends. "

I blinked at him, finding it strangely difficult to focus on anything other than my breathing with him so close. "Alright, you have a deal. But not tonight. I'm tired, and I think I've had a little too much to drink. Fair enough?"

Erik said nothing, but I felt my belt give, no longer holding me in place. I staggered slightly, alluding to perhaps one drink too many on my part. I wasn't _drunk_, perhaps a bit past tipsy though. It had been a _very_ long game of chess between Erik and Charles, and I'd not wanted to leave the cosy study so soon. A large warm hand suddenly grasped my elbow, "Come. I'll walk you to your room."

"You have a habit of not answering my questions a lot, you know that, right?" I said, frowning at Erik but doing nothing to pull myself free of his grasp.

"It wasn't wise of you to have that last glassful," Erik said, tugging me quickly through the corridors.

"There it is! Do you even notice that?"

"Sleep."

We were outside my room now, and I couldn't help but grin at Erik's retreating back. "Not going to tuck me in tonight?" I sniggered as I entered my room, having seen Erik tense at my last question. _This friendship was going to be an interesting one._

* * *

><p>My head was buzzing still the next day, an annoying throbbing sensation pulsing through my brain that had nothing to do with Gabi's jumping on the bed to wake me first thing. I'd not bothered to change out of my pyjamas, merely thrown on a red dressing robe on top and let Gabi drag me down to the kitchen and food and caffeine. Franz was by the stove – of course – whipping up breakfast with Alex by his side, his surprise apprentice. <em>Smells like pancakes<em>.

The others were already at the table, Charles letting Raven fuss over his morning mess of hair while Emily and Sean were obviously entertaining each other with jokes or something, laughing loudly and _not helping my headache at all_. Hank was furiously scribbling in a notebook, almost filled with calculations and diagrams already of amazing designs he had in his head. And as usual, Erik ignored us all from behind a broadsheet newspaper, still dressed in his sweats from his morning run.

I swung Gabi up onto the free chair next to Hank, his giggles alerting Franz to our arrival. He turned and took one look at me before smirking. "Franz Maas, don't you say a word."

He wisely didn't, and instead approached me with a peaceful gesture of a cup of coffee. I accepted it gratefully, sitting on Gabi's other side and waiting for the food, my head aching too much to attempt conversation with the others just yet. A voice broke through my silence though. "Mother's name."

"Hmm?" I looked over to Erik, where the recognisable gravelly deep voice had come from. "What was that?"

"Your mother's name."

It took me another few seconds to realise that this was Erik's version of a question. _No inflection whatsoever_. I suppose this had to do with our little agreement last night. "Gratia Baumhauer Schmidt. You?"

"Keren," he replied shortly, still hidden behind the newspaper.

_My turn, _"Father?"

"Jakob. No need to tell me yours. Age."

I gasped mockingly, "Don't you know never to ask a woman her age?"

The top half of the newspaper folded over, enough for me to see Erik's eyes, more green now than grey, looking at me, one eyebrow raised ever so slightly. "_Age_."

It would be nice if he phrased questions as polite questions, as opposed to demands for answers, but that was Erik I supposed. "Twenty-seven." Sean whistled, but stopped as Emily cuffed him. "You?"

"Twenty-nine."

"Education?"

"Anything I picked up on my travels. And yourself now."

"Cambridge-"

"Ooh," Sean again, eyes darting between Charles and myself. "Oxford versus Cambridge- will you stop hitting me?"

Emily merely grinned at him.

Everyone was watching our exchange, puzzled looks on their faces. Gabi tugged on my sleeve, "Why are you asking questions?"

"To get to know Erik better," I said, meeting Erik's eyes again. "Because we're... friends."

"Oh! I got a question!" Gabi cried, looking excitedly across the table. "What's your favouritest food?"

Erik paused a moment, thinking it seemed, before answering. "Soup. Any type of soup."

"I like chocolate. Hot chocolate. Chocolate cake. Chocolate mousse. Chocolate cookies. Uncle Franz makes the _best_ cookies," Gabi babbled, eyes practically glazing over as he imagined the foodstuffs. Emily was grinning at me from across the table, a little sparkle in her eye. I wanted to tell her to be quiet, but over what, I had no idea. She just looked too _smug_. Like she knew something. I'd ignore her for now, and take enjoyment from watching Erik be interrogated by my three year old. At the very least, I'd be learning more about him, if only his favourite food and colour, and whatever else Gabi's mind could ponder upon.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9<span>

Now, though I was a woman, I'd rarely had the time or inclination to feel particularly 'girly'. Which was fine. Raven had missed some female company enough not to really care, besides which, she had Emily for 'girly' moments when they were called for. But perhaps I deserved this 'girly' moment.

I couldn't stop grinning where I stood, back pressed against the bookcase in the mansion's library. I almost couldn't believe what I'd seen, nor my reaction to it – the giddiness was unusual – but it was such a sweet sight. A few bookcases down, Charles was on his feet, dancing with Emily. Of course, Emily's arms were wrapped tightly around his torso, helping support him and really being the one to lead in the dancing, but that minor fact did nothing to detract from the wide smile on Charles's face as the pair slowly circled on the spot. Their lips weren't moving, but with the amount of staring going on, there was no doubt in my mind that they were holding a conversation anyway.

They didn't even appear to notice me, or my more than likely pretty loud thoughts.

Craning my neck slowly, I peered around the bookcase and saw the two of them in the same state still, foreheads pressed together though. I suppose no one could really understand a telepath as well as a fellow telepath. They were in a world all of their own-

"What are you doing?"

I jumped at the deep voice to my right, turning to see that it was Erik. He was looking over at me with one eyebrow raised at me in curiosity. The look of curiosity faded into one of shock when I suddenly dragged him into the small alcove of bookcases I was in, shoving him against the bookcase opposite me and covered his mouth with my hand. I winced when my watch tightened painfully on my wrist though, glaring at Erik as I hissed at him, "Stop it! I'm not attacking you, you _hypocrite_. Just be quiet."

The watch loosened on my wrist, but Erik – predictably – gave no apology. "Why?" he asked, pulling my hand away from over his mouth by the watch, gently this time.

Slapping my hand back over his mouth, I glared warningly at him. "You'll disturb them."

Erik's eyes slid over my shoulder, behind me to where I assumed Charles and Emily were still wrapped up in their own little world. He then rolled his eyes. "Women."

Noisy or not, the feminist in me wouldn't allow for me _not_ to punch Erik in the shoulder for the comment. It wasn't a hard punch, but I considered it payback somewhat for the bruise that I was no doubt forming thanks to my watch. "Watch your mouth. Remember that my powers aren't restricted to metal like yours, Lensherr." The expression on Erik's face only seemed to be provoking a challenge out of me, but I wouldn't rise to the bait. "You really want to try me _here_-"

My words were stopped by a large hand pressing against my own mouth. I looked up at Erik to see an amused smirk across his face as he stepped closer, shushing me and somehow sounding arrogant in doing so too, in his own Erik-way. "Shh, you're making rather a lot of noise for someone who insisted on being quiet."

I don't think that either Emily or Charles would have been able to read my mind. It was inexplicably blank as Erik's hand stopped covering my mouth and trailed along my jaw, before returning back to his side. For a moment, with him that close, all I could see, hear, smell and _feel_ was Erik in front of me. It wasn't _my_ fault he decided to stand so close. Ever since our agreement to answer each other's questions a few days ago, I would definitely and comfortably call Erik my friend.

Obviously we both still had secrets, but that was normal with all friends. You never learnt everything about somebody in but a few weeks. It took time. But I trusted him. As my friend.

My friend who seemed to have temporarily lost any understanding of personal space.

And then he stepped back, and it was suddenly a lot easier to breathe. Erik turned and languidly headed out of the library, a tugging from the watch hinting for me to follow him. _I suppose we should leave Charles and Emily be..._ Allowing Erik to lead me out of the library by my watch – _I probably need to stop wearing that thing if he insists on using it against me_ – I quickly plucked a book of fairytales from the shelves behind me with my own powers and grabbed it out of the air. I did _have_ a reason to be in the library after all.

Apparently too tired to do much but bored with doing so little in his fatigued state, Gabi had decided it was a perfect time for a story. Demanded one, really. So I'd left him with Franz and the others in the main living room and gone in search of a book of stories Gabi would enjoy. He was going through a phase right now, were he was slightly obsessed with knights and castles. Only the other day I'd even heard him ask Charles if he was a king and this was his castle. To my embarrassment. Luckily, Charles being Charles, had been happy enough to play along, and so for a whole day Gabi was then Sir Gabi, and spent that time 'protecting' Charles from anything he deemed a threat.

Only just before spotting the slow-dancing couple, I'd found the perfect book, only to get distracted.

Catching up with Erik so he wouldn't have to start dragging me around by my watch, we walked in comfortable silence. I wasn't sure where Erik was heading, but I made my way back to the main living room, and he seemed to be content following. I'd begun pushing open the door to the room, when I paused as I heard Franz's voice.

"-And yet, the prince and princess weren't like their family. They were good people."

I turned briefly to Erik, "Franz is _awful_ at making up stories. Ironic compared to how good a liar he can be at times. This should be funny." Gabi must have grown bored of waiting for my return, and all were hard-pressed to say no to him whenever he used his big hazel eyes and a pouty lip on you. Erik and I stood by the door, listening to what I assumed would be another of Franz's terribly thought-up and improvised stories. Soon though I would find how wrong I was, because no matter how bad he was at creating original stories, Franz had an exceptional memory, and from his memory he could weave the most enthralling tales of all.

"One day, in their castle in the mountains, the good prince and princess were shocked to see that the _Evil_ King Sebastian had captured a nearby prince, and locked him in a tower. The poor captured prince was so lonely and alone in his tower."

Cold seemed to seep through every fibre of my body, as it felt like I was plunged back into the past, my memories, and a boy who was so much more than simply lonely and alone.

* * *

><p>"<em>Klaus, what's happening?" I asked my eldest brother, clinging tightly to his hand amidst the utter madness tearing through the house right now. <em>

_Klaus swung me up into his arms just in time to save me from being run over by another soldier barrelling through the room. "I don't know, little one," he said softly, rubbing my back comfortingly. All the noise and movement were frightening me, as well as the men barking orders through the house. All at once, as abruptly as the men had come spilling into the house and disrupted my impromptu afternoon piano lesson with Klaus, they were silent and stood to attention. I barely had time to wonder why, before I saw why. "Father."_

_I tensed up in Klaus's arms, not afraid – he was my father – but not comfortable. I rarely saw him. He was always busy with work. The only one of his children he ever had time for was Max, especially after Max started acting differently. "Klaus, get your brother. Rosa, go find something productive to occupy yourself with."_

_Nodding quickly to Father, because you never disobeyed Father, I was set on my feet and hurriedly pulled towards the door, Klaus's grip firm but gentle. But no matter how much bigger Klaus was to me, I managed to bring him to a halt when I saw... _him_._

_There just outside the living room, being carried past us on a stretcher and restrained so heavily and so tightly that I could see the raw redness on pale skinny limbs, was a boy who looked not much older than I was. He was asleep. "Father, who is he? Where are they taking him? Is he alright-"_

"_Not now, Rosa," Father snapped dismissively, his sharp grey eyes following the boy as he was taken past us. He seemed unusually tense._

_It would have been wise to keep quiet, but I had to know._

"_But Father, he doesn't look well. He looks ill. Are we going to take care of hi-"_

_For the first time in my life, I was struck. Stunned into silence and clutching my stinging cheek, I hardly noticed when Klaus lifted me into his arms again, eyes too firmly fixed on Father. "I do not have time for you, there is important work to be done. Now do as I say and get your brother."_

_Klaus didn't say a word as he strode out of the room, in the opposite direction to the boy. But he must have woken up, because I jumped when I heard him crying out. The moment we were out of Father's sight, I was set down again, and felt Klaus's hands holding my head and gently turning it this way and that. "Rosa, are you alright? Answer me." The shock wearing off as abruptly as that boy's cries were muted, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Flinging myself at my big brother, I cried into his shoulder, the sting in my cheek hurting now. "There, there. It's alright, Rosa. I'm here."_

_I pulled back, wiping at my eyes and looking Klaus in the eye as I spoke. "Wh-Why did Father..."_

_His eyebrows bunched up, and I couldn't tell if he was angry or annoyed at that moment as he ran a hand through his neat blond hair. "He probably had something important to do, like he said."_

"_That boy, do you think he's alright?"_

_Klaus gently wiped my wet cheeks with his thumbs, hands cupping my face once again. "Don't worry about him right now, Rosa. Are you alright?" I nodded. "Good. We'll go get Max for Father, and then we will find something for your cheek."_

"_But the-"_

"_And then we can see what we can find out about our new house guest. Okay, little one?" Smiling a little now, I again nodded my head and snorted when Klaus rolled his eyes at me. There was little he wouldn't do for me, and the same could be said the other way. Sometimes, between an angry middle brother and a secretive, absent father, it felt like Klaus was all I had. Taking my hand, we headed off again, in search of our brother._

* * *

><p>I couldn't listen to this. My heart was already breaking with reawakened memories of my brother, and as my grip on the book of fairytales tightened until my knuckles were white, I was already beginning to back away from the door. Only to be stopped. I'd backed into Erik, who's larger frame had barely budged at the collision. Trying to duck around him, I was again unsuccessful in my endeavours of escape, as two large hands wrapped around my arms and kept me rooted to the spot.<p>

"Erik-"

"Shh."

"Erik, let go of me," I said again, pulling at my arms. It was a pity Erik was a friend now, otherwise I'd have no qualms in throwing Erik across the hall and possibly out of the window. As it was, I knew I'd feel at least a little guilty, and needed a way to work off my anxiety, so was fine trying to physically rip myself free of his hold. Erik didn't even seem to notice, eyes fixed inside the room through the slightly ajar door. I was essentially trapped between Erik and the wall.

"-The _Evil_ King Sebastian had captured the prince because of his magical powers, and wanted the prince to work for him," Franz continued. "But the good prince and princess knew that was wrong. You should never force someone to do something, remember that Gabi. So, they decided that they had to rescue the captured prince, and to leave their _Evil_ father and brother behind too. They planned an escape, with one of their most loyal, er, knights-"

"What was his name?" Gabi piped up _then_ of all times.

"Well, he was called, erm, Sir Franz."

"Like you!"

"Yes, like me. And one night, after nearly two months of planning, the prince, princess and Sir Franz were able to free the captured prince..."

Here it was, my life being sugar-coated as a fairytale. _I wonder how Franz will end the story._


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 10<span>

Resigning myself to listening to the story, I'd stopped fighting Erik's hold on me, dropping my head against the wall in front of me and letting Franz's voice wash over me. "They waited until they knew that all the men guarding the tower would be switching shifts, on a night that the _Evil_ King Sebastian had left the palace on business. That way, the rescue and escape would be easier to carry out. So they waited and waited for the perfect night."

"And then?"

"And then they moved out..." I watched as Franz sprang to his feet and dragged Raven and Alex to join him in acting out the story, Gabi sat on the floor in front of them, completely enthralled by the whole thing. "The good prince and Sir Franz dressed up like the tower guards, and snuck through the dark corridors with the good princess, and up and up and up the staircases. Nobody thought anything of their disguise. They reached the captured prince's room, and found locked, heavy, stone doors-"

"Stone?" Gabi asked, eyes still hooked on his live performance before him. Although Alex looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. By this point, Sean had joined Gabi on the floor to watch. Hank remained in his seat on the sofa, but he'd since set aside his books. Franz when he was 'in the zone' was almost impossible to ignore.

"Yes, stone. And so the good prince and his knight broke the lock and pushed the doors open. Inside they found the poor captured prince asleep, tired from, er, staying up and waiting to be rescued-"

Gabi laughed, "Princes don't get rescued!"

"Fine then, he was waiting up for help and he fell asleep. Better?" Franz rolled his eyes at Gabi, but couldn't be angry at the little boy. "The good prince lifted the sleeping prince into his arms, and led the others out of the tower and through the palace to the back door where fewer guards would be there at night. They had _almost_ reached the door, when suddenly the _Evil_ prince appeared..."

"No!" Sean cried this time, having temporarily returned to the mentality of a child it seemed.

"Yes!" Franz said, really getting into the story now. "The _Evil_ prince fled and alerted the guards of what had happened. They would never escape now."

"_No!_" Gabi and Sean cried.

"Until... the good prince handed the sleeping prince over to his knight, and told him to take his sister and-

* * *

><p>"<em>-Go!" Klaus said, eyes darting back down the corridor Max had disappeared down. "I'll hold them off."<em>

"_That's impossible, there are too many-"_

"_There's no time to argue. Just go!" Franz's jaw was tight, but he didn't say anything else, looking sadly at Klaus with the boy safely moved into his arms now. Klaus took Franz's hand gun and tucked it into his own belt, before leaning his forehead against Franz's. "Remember us..." They stayed that way for a long moment, before Klaus pulled away and pressed a kiss where his head had been, and turned away from Franz to me now. "You be a good girl now, Rosa. Franz will take care of you."_

_I was growing more scared by the second, and the sad look on Klaus's face wasn't helping. I wasn't an adult, but I wasn't a baby either. I knew from those looks neither of them were expecting Klaus to ever see us again. Throwing my arms around his neck, I clung tightly to him. "Don't leave, Klaus. Please, please don't go."_

"_Someone has to hold the guards off. You and Franz will go on with the boy. Get him to safety. I'll be fine."_

"_I'm scared."_

_Klaus sighed, resting his head on top of mine and squeezing me tightly in his arms. "Rosa, have I ever told you how proud I am of you? Already standing up for those who cannot. Every day I am proud that you turned out the way you have, with a little help from me, of course." That pulled a little snort of laughter from me. "You are a good person, my little Rosa, don't ever change. Look after Franz for me, and live for us both." His eyes, Father's eyes, looked straight into mine, but they were softer and a warm blue colour. "I love you. So, so much."_

_I sniffed as Klaus untangled my arms from around his neck. "I love you more." _

_He grinned at me, kissing both my cheeks, before quickly darting away where Max had gone, both handguns out and ready. Franz and I didn't move right away, but the sound of nearing voices set us off. I opened the back door as Franz's hands were full carrying the unconscious boy. Franz stepped outside, and I followed him, silently closing the door when I heard the first sounds of gunfire. A chill went through my whole body, and all I could think of was Klaus getting hurt. It was without another thought that I raced back inside. "Rosa, no!" Franz cried after me, before I heard him groan. I chanced a look back to see that he was pinching his bleeding nose, and that the previously-unconscious boy was now sprinting away down the lawn and disappearing into the surrounding trees. _

* * *

><p>"-And the good princess ran through the palace halls to help her brother, Sir Franz not far behind after making sure that the captured prince had safely escaped. She ran and ran and ran, as fast as she could, to find her brother."<p>

"Did she find him?"

"... Yes."

* * *

><p><em>My heart stopped as a body flew past me in the hallway, alight in a bright yellow light. Looking down after them, I screamed as I recognised who it was. "KLAUS!" I ran to him, crying as I took in his burnt body and face. One eye was burnt shut, and he was painfully red and bleeding. I didn't know where it was okay to touch him, but he lifted a hand and I took that as my indication and gripped his hand tightly in mine. "Klaus-"<em>

_He managed to chuckle as he looked up at me, before his laughter turned into splutters and a trickle of blood trailed out of the corner of his mouth. "Stubborn one..."_

_I gently brushed some of his singed blond hair from his face, "I had to come."_

"_I know, little one." Klaus tugged on my hand and I had to lean in closer to hear what he said. "Don't... ever... change..." I sobbed as Klaus's grip on my hand slipped, and both his eyes had closed when I pulled back to look at him. My heart broke as I took in his still form. I'd never seen my brother so motionless before. It was unnerving. _

_At a new thought, the sadness and heartbreak inside me snapped into terrifying anger and hatred at whoever _caused_ this to my beloved brother. I looked up for the culprit, and for the second time tonight, my heart stopped. "Max?" my other brother was stood at the other end of the hallway, arms still outstretched and a faint yellow glow to his hands. He looked equally shocked by what had happened, but the shock quickly twisted into a horrifying smug smirk. "Max, how could you? He's our brother!"_

"_You're both traitors! Father will hear about this."_

"_What he's doing is wrong!"_

"_You only think that because Klaus brainwashed you to think so," Max snarled at me. "Father is a revolutionary scientist on genetic mutations!"_

"_But you still killed Klaus!" _

"_He deserved it."_

_I screamed as I charged at him. I had no idea what I'd do, but I was too furious to care. Even when I saw Max's hands beginning to glow again._

* * *

><p>"-And then the good princess, heart-broken and betrayed, suddenly unleashed her own magical powers," Franz said, having returned to his seat. "It was like a shock wave, throwing her <em>Evil<em> brother back from her, as well as pushing Sir Franz back out of the palace. But the guards managed to subdue the princess, and when the _Evil_ King Sebastian returned from business, she was taken and locked away in the same tower that the captured prince had been in." Franz sighed before continuing the story, "The _Evil_ King and the _Evil_ prince kept her there for four years, before Sir Franz managed to rescue her too."

Gabi was hugging a cushion on the floor now, leaning tiredly against Sean's side as his bedtime had since arrived and drifted by. "Poor princess..."

Noticing the yawning boy, Franz got to his feet and picked Gabi up. "I think that's enough for tonight."

"Aww," Gabi whined. "But the _story_..."

"Yeah! You didn't finish!" Sean piped up, before looking sheepishly away under the stern look Franz gave him.

Gently rubbing Gabi's back, Franz had already half sent the boy to sleep. "Another time maybe. It's time to get this tired baby to bed."

"I'm not-not-" his speech was interrupted by a large yawn. "-not _tired_." Gabi had only finished speaking when I heard his soft snores already resounding from his slack mouth.

"Sure-" Franz stood frozen in shock in the doorway as he stared at me, eyes wide at the furious expression no doubt painted across my face. With one last tug at my arms, Erik's hands gave way, and I stormed past him and ignored the pitying looks I was getting from Emily and Charles as I went past them. It seemed they'd since left the library. "Rosa!" Ignoring Franz, I continued down the corridors to the front door, intent on getting some fresh air and _not_ crying whatsoever. Tears, as long as they stayed in my eyes, did not count as crying. They _didn't_! The cool night air was refreshing and calming me slowly, until I heard that voice calling me again. "Rosa-"

Spinning on my heels, I caught a surprised look off Franz's face when I shoved him from ten feet away, knocking him onto the ground. I'd rarely ever used my powers against Franz. And never very seriously. "How _dare_ you-"

"Now, I know you're a little upset," Franz said getting to his feet and with his hands up in a peaceful manner.

"A little upset?" I hissed at him. "You had _no right_ telling them any of that."

Franz raised his eyebrows at me, "A story?"

"That was no story and you know it," I snapped at him, brushing furiously at my teary eyes. "How could you tell them?"

"They are our friends. They deserve to know." Franz moved closer, stopping in front of me and resting his hands on my shoulders. "What's really wrong?"

I refused to look up at him, or anyone else that might have followed him out, keeping my eyes trained on the ground as I mumbled my reply, "You _know_ what happened, after I found... I found...-"

"None of it was your fault," Franz insisted, forcing me to look at him. "Your powers manifested very quickly and unexpectedly. It would have been impossible for you to know how to control it instantly. All that happened that night, it wasn't your fault at all. You know how to control yourself now. It won't happen again."

Dropping my head against his chest, I sighed wearily and asked the question that had truly been plaguing me. "Would he still be proud of me?"

Franz's thick arms wrapped around me, and I hugged him back, feeling him drop a small kiss on my head, which comforted me somewhat. "I doubt there are many things you could do that would stop Klaus being proud of his _little one_. All that you – _we_ – have done, good and bad, has been done with the best intentions, and that is all that anyone can ask for. But I think it's time to let the past go now. I know you remember what Klaus said to you. Here, now, we have the chance to live a good life, with friends. Don't let it go to waste, Rosa. If not for you, then at least for Gabi."

Having calmed down fully now, I leant heavily on Franz, sighing sadly at the memories. "But Max-"

"If that bastard stirs trouble for anyone again, I will be the first with you to fight him off," Franz said, pulling back to look down at me, wiping at my cheeks with his thumbs. "Until then, can we enjoy relative normalcy? I really _do_ love that kitchen..."

Laughing properly now, I nodded. The pout on Franz's face was too funny not to laugh at. "I suppose. Sorry about before."

"There's nothing to forgive. I should have known the story would have upset you."

"I know it upset you too. Wait, where's Gabi?"

Franz indicated to the mansion with his head, "Erik took him from me when I came chasing after you. Asleep now, no doubt."

Standing on tiptoes, I pressed a kiss on the end of Franz's nose before hurrying back inside. Sending a reassuring smile to Emily in the hallway, she simply pointed to the study, the forgotten storybook in her arms. Following her direction, any and all lingering sadness I had disappeared at the sight I met. Erik was stood, stock still in the middle of the room, with Gabi cradled awkwardly in his arms. I said cradled, more like sprawled across and over him, like Gabi had started climbing Erik's frame in his sleep. The expression on the man's face was utterly hilarious, a cross between confusion and frustration. When he spotted me stifling my grin in the doorway, I was once again privy to his glare. "Don't just stand there woman, help me!"

Smirking back, I only shook my head. "You seem to be doing fine."

"I'm close to dropping him!"

"No you're not." And he wasn't. Despite Gabi's awkward sprawling across Erik's chest and shoulders, he had a firm hand on his back and legs keeping the little boy safely in place.

Gritting his teeth at me in annoyance, I once again felt a tugging from my watch, "Just... get over here."

Chuckling quietly as I relented and joined them, I moved in front of Erik and between us started to transfer – still sleeping, the lazy lump – Gabi into my arms. With Erik's large hands keeping a steady hold of Gabi, I slipped my arms around my little boy and hugged him tightly to me. The transfer was easy aside from one moment when Gabi's little hand was curled tightly around the neck of Erik's turtleneck. I looked up to thank him for taking Gabi, voluntary or otherwise, only to find myself on the receiving end of one of Erik's intense stares. It was like he was trying to pick me apart. "What?"

He kept staring for another minute, before shaking his head and turning away, "Nothing. It's nothing."

Not convinced, but not wanting to push Erik any further, I let it go and said goodnight before heading upstairs to put Gabi to bed. Once he was changed and tucked in, I began my own night routine and slid into bed. It was only as I was drifting off to sleep that I realised that for the first time, Erik had properly answered a question I'd asked him that wasn't involved in our 'twenty questions' sessions.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the X-men franchise, just a big fan :)**

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><p><span>Chapter 11<span>

With just over a week to go before the start of the new school year, I was checking on the stocks of books that Charles had kindly bought for my lessons. As the fifty odd students' ages ranged from as young as seven to as old as seventeen, I had a wide variety of reading material to cover. Unlike other schools where the classes were assigned due to age, with a telepath as we had for a Headmaster, he had designed the classes according to individual ability in each subject. We _were_ mutants after all, with unique manifestations of power, which affected us at different times. Besides, we didn't really have enough students – yet – to divide them equally by age. Perhaps in the future.

Charles had also informed us happily that the student body had increased so much that students would be bunking two to a room to fit everyone and staff. At least until the extensions and renovations were done. The mansion was built as a home for a family, a large family, but still a family. That meant that many of the rooms were designed to entertain and cater to a family, so there weren't many rooms designed to act as classrooms. Not that I was going to complain. I mean, it _was_ Charles' house and school, and I _was_ getting free food and boarding here, as well as a salary apparently. Faculty, luckily, was allowed to keep their own individual rooms, despite Raven offering to share with Hank, the poor blushing boy.

Erik... Erik had been looking at me very strangely these past few days.

He denied it, but it was becoming impossible to ignore. Even Sean commented on it at one point. Emily was still refusing to tell me what it was all about, although I _knew_ she knew. She just smiled slightly at me and told me that there was nothing to worry about, which – coming from her – worried me more. Charles was exactly the same. Damn them both.

"Stop your worrying and leave those books alone," Emily said from the door. _Speak of the devil..._ "I know you've checked those books three times already. There's no reason to be worried, I know you're a wonderful teacher. Besides, it's a beautiful day today. Come outside for a bit."

Looking down at the floor around me, spread out with all the books, and considered her offer. It _was_ getting a little tedious rechecking the supplies. Maybe a distraction would be nice.

Grinning already in success from listening to my thoughts, Emily looped her arm with mine and dragged me out of the mansion. The sky was clear, the sun warm and shining, a truly beautiful day, and it seemed everyone was already outside.

Franz was grilling something that smelled delicious on an outdoor grill, with Alex helping him as usual. He was becoming quite the accomplished chef under Franz's tutelage. Raven was sun-bathing on the grass, in her natural blue form no less, with while Sean and Gabi were play-fighting and trying to get Hank to join them. Charles was lounging on a bench, music drifting from the radio on the ground by his feet, and generally relaxing as he watched everyone around him. Emily pulled me to join him, sitting on the bench and lifting Charles's legs to lie on her lap. I went to sit on the grass by her feet, when I noticed something.

"Where's Erik?"

"I believe he's taking a walk about the gardens," Charles said. When I turned to listen, it was hard not to notice the pair's entwined fingers resting at Charles's hip. "He said that he wanted somewhere more quiet."

"Oh...-"

"But I know he really _much_ prefers company to solitude. Erik's been gone a while now. Can you check on him for me, Rosa?" Charles asked, smiling at me. "I would, but I may have overexerted myself in my exercises this morning, and my legs are aching somewhat."

Nodding to him, I made my way to the gardens at the back of the mansion. At least, I hoped it was these gardens Erik was in. The grounds were quite extensive, and I didn't want to search for him for an eternity. The gardens at the back offered the most peace and privacy. "Erik?" I called out, getting no response. "Erik?"

"Go away." Even now it seemed Erik refused to answer my questions – outside of our almost interrogations – in a straightforward way. I turned to where I'd heard the voice, and peered around a rose bush to see a leg sticking out. Hurrying around the shrub, because I didn't doubt that Erik would vanish on me now just to spite me, I grinned down at his put out expression. He was practically pouting.

"Found you."

"I told you to go away."

Sliding down to sit next to him, my grin was still in place. "And I ignored you, what did you expect?"

"Everyone else listens to me."

"That's because they're either too nice or too intimidated to not listen to you. So..." I said, moving to lie down on the grass to stretch out my back. After spending the morning re-familiarising myself with the books I would be teaching, hunched over each page, my back was aching somewhat. Stretching it was sweet relief. "What were you doing out here?"

"I was... nothing..."

If there was one thing I knew about Erik, it was that he was confident in everything he did, pushing it to being cocky really. Being hesitant like this was strange for him. I looked up at him from where I lay, noting the tension in his jaw and the deep set frown pulling at his brow as he stared at the ground by his feet. Whatever he was doing, it hadn't been 'nothing'. "Don't lie to me. I thought we were friends."

Erik turned to look at me for the first time since I'd interrupted whatever he had been doing. But he didn't look at my face. His gaze began at my feet, and I could almost feel his eyes travelling up my body, before landing on my face. I had to stop myself squirming and blushing under his _really_ intense eyes. I wouldn't give Erik the satisfaction of seeing my embarrassment his sweeping eyes had caused me. His looks had not been one of a _friend_. But I didn't have time to think about that right now. _Focus_...

"Erik?-"

"Do you ever wonder what would have happened if your father hadn't been who he was?"

I blinked at the sudden question, turning to stare at the sky as I thought on my answer. "You mean, if I'd had a nice, normal father, who didn't want to destroy all of humanity?"

"Yes."

"Well... I suppose I'd still be in Germany first of all, gone to the same old school, got a job. Maybe met someone, and had a little family of my own. And we'd spend our days happy and all that, but really, I can't imagine it much. This is the life I have. There isn't any point in thinking of something that can never happen. Even if I had a _normal_ father, I myself am not _normal_. I'm not 'happy' with who my father is, but... I'm content with how everything has settled for me. So far, anyway. Besides, had my life gone any other way, I wouldn't have had Gabi, and I can't imagine myself without him now."

Erik nodded, his eyes locked on something in the distance. He said nothing though. The conversation seemed to have paused there. It must have been something I'd said. But I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I imagine something similar if I'd never met your father," Erik said, suddenly breaking the silence. "No doubt my mother would have planned for me to settle down with a nice girl and give her the grandchildren I knew she wanted." Again, I had to stop myself blushing, because it _really_ felt like Erik was looking at me with that last statement. "But I find it hard to imagine living like that."

Nodding my head, I understood him exactly. To go from the life I'd lead, mostly on the run, to a white-picket-fence-perfect-little-suburban-house lifestyle seemed impossible to me. I'd sort of grown used to the adrenaline rushes, sort of needed them now. To not have to always look over my shoulder seemed strange. It was difficult enough settling into living in Charles's mansion, but at least I got a small rush just helping keep an eye on the boys – not even with the _rest_ of our unique student body. I could never have been a stay-at-home housewife and mother. I was a fighter. It just was who I was. My own powers reflected that in a way. Though Franz and I had mostly stayed on the run, it didn't mean I'd ever shied away from fighting. More often than not, Franz had to make sure I _didn't_ fight too much.

A quiet, safe, picturesque life... it wasn't me.

At the very least, I'd have gotten bored of it.

Not to mention whenever my powers would have manifested. That would probably have punched a fairly deep hole in that picture perfect life.

Thinking of _Erik_ living that life, now, that almost made me laugh. Of course I didn't. He was sat beside me, I didn't want to sign myself on for an early death for laughing at Erik over something like _that_.

But one thought was niggling at the back of my mind. What Erik was _really_ thinking about. I had a hunch but left it to him to continue.

I kept glancing up at Erik as I thought to myself. Putting together all the pieces that I knew about him, a lone man with power over metal, an obvious deep-seated hatred towards my father, and apparently having 'no one left' to call family, I guessed that my father must have had something to do with Erik's having 'no one left'. Killed them most likely, or had them killed. _Why?_ For Erik of course. He was a very powerful mutant, something my father would not have missed whenever their paths had crossed. Whatever my father _had_ done to Erik and his family, it was enough for even those associated with Sebastian Shaw to be dealt that same hatred and suspicion.

Remembering the first few days here and the almost constant glares from Erik, to be sitting beside him now idly talking seemed almost impossible to imagine. Yet here we were. Friends.

Perhaps my father had tortured Erik or his family. I wouldn't put it past him. There were many horrors I'd learnt of my father over the years. When I was younger, Klaus no doubt made a valiant effort to keep the worst areas hidden from me, but I'd found them eventually. My father's dark side. Living and being raised by my father – my birth resulting in my mother's death – I _had_ loved him. As any girl love her father. He was often away, often with little patience, and often indifferent to my presence really. But I'd loved him. Even throughout helping that boy escape our house, I'd loved my father. In my mind, there _had_ to be a _really_ good reason for him treating that boy as he had. He was my _father_ after all.

But in the four years that I became the prisoner, my love for him was chipped away little by little. In the first few weeks, I imagined him suddenly turning around and declaring this a test or something, that Klaus wasn't really dead, and that we'd all be alright again, as we had before. He never had of course. Mostly I was left to my surviving brother, Max.

If the tortures Max used were only _some_ of the things father had taught him, I shuddered to imagine what horrors my father could _truly_ commit.

Obviously he'd done something like that to Erik.

_But what?_

"Are you going to ask me what's on your mind? Or keep staring at me?"

I hadn't realised that my glances had turned into full out staring. It seemed I'd forgotten to do the look away part between glances. Erik turned his currently more-green-than-grey eyes back to me, locking onto my own, and not shifting his deep gaze. My whole body felt frozen and pinned down under those eyes. Including my voice.

"Rosa... I'm waiting..." I sucked in a deep breath when Erik suddenly leant closer, his face almost looming over mine. A lazy smirk crossed his face, and any melancholy or seriousness left Erik's face in light of an almost predatory playfulness. This was a side of Erik that was used to get what he wanted. And it was _working_ in the sense that my mind seemed to be turning to mush under every breath of his I felt brush my cheek, and those _eyes_... "Tell me what you were thinking about."

My mouth began to move and answer me, but I shook myself from whatever spell Erik seemed to have cast on me. I almost imagined that he had a second power. Instead, I rolled out away from him and leapt to my feet, looking down at him now with my hands on my hips. "No. You're just trying to change the subject away from you."

I swear I heard Erik growl as he too got to his feet. I wasn't looking down at him anymore. Now I was looking up. "What more is there? We talked."

"Hardly. You're still trying to get off topic again."

"Off _what_ topic?" Erik roared at me, his eyes a gunmetal grey again and blazing as he glared down at me. That hardly had any effect on me, and I stood my ground, despite having an inkling of what storm I was brewing in him.

"My father," I said plainly. "Erik, how did you meet my father?"


End file.
